The truth will set you free. Unless you're guilty.

We are, all of us, crippled and twisted. Most of us strive desperately to keep our grotesqueries out of sight and mind. Our suffering is transformed by an alchemy of the soul into addiction, ulcers, strokes, hatred, even war.

Sometimes when you push someone, you find out who that person really is.

Maybe the trying is the thing. Maybe it doesn't get better than that. Maybe you never quite get there. And maybe that's okay.

When people can do something simple to avoid conflict--say, hit a button or unlock a latch--they'll generally do it.

Human empathy, while not found on any chart of human anatomy, is the reason we instinctively hurt for our children... it is the reason that one human being's intensely personal tests and triumphs can be harnessed to the good of countless others.

...Some people hurt so much they can't take what they need, even when someone wants to give it to them. (106)