He was near tears, 'Who do I blame?' he kept asking me. 'There is no God.I can only blame myself.'" The Reb's face tightened, as if in pain. "That," he said, softly, "is a terrible self-indictment." Worse than an unanswered prayer? "Oh yes. It is far more comforting to think God listened and said no, than to think that nobody's out there.

We’re so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks—we’re involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don’t get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?

The length of your days does not belong to you.

There are many things in my life that I wish I could take back. Many moments I would recast.

Secrets tear you apart.

You can know the whole world and still feel lost in it.

What is it about childhood that never lets you go, even when you're so wrecked it's hard to believe you ever were a child?