...hoarders of guilty secrets are inevitably consumed with appearances.

Many, if not most, countries blithely expect their citizens to have carte blanche access to the U.S., "land of immigrants," as a veritable human right, but put up all manner of barriers to Americans who want to emigrate in the opposite direction.

Built like an oak tree, against which I could pitch my pillow and read; mornings, I could curl into the crook of your branches.

It's an apathy so absolute that it's like a hole you might fall in.

The good life doesn't knock on the door. Joy is a job.

The discovery that heartbreak is indeed heartbreaking consoles us about our humanity.

You were ambitious - for your life, what it was like when you woke up in the morning, and not for some attainment. Like most people who did not answer a particular calling from an early age, you placed work beside yourself; any occupation would fill up your day but not your heart. I liked that about you. I liked it enormously.