The beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living. What we lack is not a will to believe but a will to wonder.

But grief still has to be worked through. It is like walking through water. Sometimes there are little waves lapping about my feet. Sometimes there is an enormous breaker that knocks me down. Sometimes there is a sudden and fierce squall. But I know that many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.

But where, after we have made the great decision to leave the security of childhood and move on into the vastness of maturity, does anybody ever feel completely at home?

To grow up is to accept vulnerability. To be alive is to be vulnerable.

We think because we have words, not the other way around. The more words we have, the better able we are to think conceptually.

The unending paradox is that we do learn through pain.

I have never lived before...Until this summer, I did not know what it was to be alive.