The past is nothing but a weight. It will build inside of you like a stone.

And now I know why they invented words for love, why they had to: It's the only thing that can come close to describing what I feel in that moment, the baffling mixture of pain and pleasure and fear and joy, all running sharply through me at once.

...if you are one tardy away from missing out on a big competition, you should probably make your coffee at home.

It's funny, isn't it? When you are young you just want to be old, and then later you wish you could go back to being a kid.

She liked that word: we. It sounded warm and open, like a hug.

Huamns, uregulated, are cruel and capricious; violet and selfish; miserable and quarrelsome. It is only after their instincts and basic emotions have been controlled that they can be happy, generous, and good.

And when we are with Alex, I might as well not be there. They speak in a language of whispers and giggles and secrets; their words are like a fairy-tale tangle of thorns, which place a wall between us.