I start to back away before I do something wildly inappropriate, like jump on top of him.

He is no longer mine to lose, but the grief is there, a gnawing sense of disbelief.

I didn't realize then what a privilege that was: to be bored with your best friend; to have time to waste.

Here's another thing to remember: hope keeps you alive. Even when you're dead, it's the only thing that keeps you alive.

This was what being cured was like: like being in a fishbowl, circling always inside the same glass.

The most dangerous sicknesses are those that make us believe we are well

Most people don't want to be saved. Besides, if you keep bailing everybody out, they'll never learn to paddle on their own.