A successful lie cannot be brought into this world and capriciously abandoned; like any committed relationship, it must be maintained, and with far more devotion than the truth, which carries on being carelessly true without any help.

A lot of people get so hung up on what they can't have that they don't think for a second about whether they really want it.

For that matter, thinking of one's self as exceptional is probably more the rule than not.

A boy is a dangerous animal.

...You can only subject people to anguish who have a conscience. You can only punish people who have hopes to frustrate or attachments to sever; who worry what you think of them. You can really only punish people who are already a little bit good.

Kevin was a shell game in which all three cups were empty.

I seem to remember even from when I was very young that when you loved someone you also hated them for making you love them, since loving someone is so incredibly humiliating.