Life is an X-rated soap opera.

We will often do anything to pretend that nothing is on our minds.

Don't forget this, too: Rumors aren't interested in the unsensational story; rumors don't care what's true.

If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.

Life," Garp wrote, "is sadly not structured like a good old-fashioned novel. Instead an end occurs when those who are meant to peter out have petered out. All that is left is memory. But even a nihilist has memory.

O God — please give him back! I shall keep asking You.

I don't want you to describe to me—not ever—what you were doing to that poor boy to make him sound like that; but if you ever do it again, please cover his mouth with your hand.