Many years from now when your children ask what New York City was like just after 9/11, this will be the book you give them in response. It's an exquisite novel full of heart, soul, passion and intelligence, and it's the one this great New York author was born to write.

I'd never believed in luck. Never had any cause to. Never relied on it, because I never could.

Plan A is to hitch a ride out of here. But if they want a war, then plan B is to win it.

Sometimes if you want to know for sure whether the stove is hot, the only way to find out is to touch it.

I'm twenty-nine, yes really, I'm from Aspen, Colorado, I'm six feet one, yes really, I've been at Quantico two years, yes I date guys, no I dress like this just because I like it, no I'm not married, no I don't currently have a boyfriend, and no I don't want to have dinner with you tonight.

I'm a rich man. To have everything you need is the definition of affluence.

I have to warn you. I promised my mother, a long time ago. She said I had to give folks a chance to walk away.