Firequencher raised his hand. "I've been staying out of family conversations. Do I get credit for that?

From all wise men, O Lord, protect us.

If desire did not dim the brain, nobody would ever get married, drunk, or fat. ~Val

Parents always make their worst mistakes with their oldest children. That's when parents know the least and care the most, so they're more likely to be wrong and also more likely to insist that they're right.

Even the most introverted person alive is constantly hungry for human association

Maybe she couldn't know who she was today. Maybe it was enough to know that she was no longer who she was before.

If human beings are all monsters, why should I sacrifice anything for them?" "Because they are beautiful monsters..., And when they live in a network of peace and hope, when they trust the world and their deepest hungers are fulfilled, then within that system, that delicate web, there is joy. That is what we live for, to bind the monsters together, to murder their fear and give birth to their beauty.