We sure as ruddy heck ain't in Prentisstown no more," I say to Manchee under my breath.

The only place you belong is the place you can never go back. And so yer always alone, forever and always.

If a crowd can flinch, they flinch. More than a thousand men flinch under the fist of just one. I don't see what the women do.

We have to lie to ourselves to live. Otherwise, we'd go crazy.

Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.

So who are you then, Todd Hewitt?" he says. "What makes you so special?" Now that, I think, is a very good asking.

Know yourself and go in swinging, if it hurts when you hit, it might be real, too.