I shot you, all right," he said, "and you lost something, but you gained something as well. You just don't know it yet. I gained something, too." What?" I got to keep my promise. I didn't leave you behind.

Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away.

Before you measure the years, you measure the days.

Sometimes, when you are not getting the love you want, giving makes you think you will.

Now you know how badly someone wanted you, Charley. Children forget that sometimes. They think of themselves as a burden instead of a wish granted.

You're not going to get to college - you're not even going to be qualified, even to go to a community college, if you don't address the basic problem of literacy in America. And there's no reason - no reason - for us to have that problem.

Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know.