It was never the act itself but our own understanding of it that defeated us, over and over again.

Betrayal isn't ridiculous. It's the reason empires fall.

It was as if Hannah had sprung a leak and her character, usually so meticulous and contained, was spilling all over the place.

Some people are as fragile as butterflies and sensitive and it’s your responsibility not to destroy them. Just because you can

It's kind of funny...the moments on which life hinges. I think growing up you always imagine your life - your success - depends on your family and how much money they have, where you go to college, what sort of job you can pin down, starting salary...But it doesn't, you know. You wouldn't believe this, but life hinges on a couple of seconds you never see coming. And what you decide in those few seconds determines everything from then on... And you have no idea what you'll do until you're there.

She told me her father taught her to live life way beyond the cusp of it, way out in the outer reaches where most people never had the guts to go, where you got hurt. Where there was unimaginable beauty and pain ... They were always reminding themselves to stop measuring life in coffee spoons, mornings and afternoons, to keep swimming way, way down to the bottom of the ocean to find where the mermaids sang, each to each. Where there was danger and beauty and light. Only the now.

Good bands you can kind of lose, then come back and realize they're still good.