Sometimes you never feel meaner than the moment you stop being mean.

Boredom is what happens to people who have no control over their minds.

Like when that man was running down Broadway stark naked and we all had to eat in the cafeteria while the police tried to catch him.

I feel like there are stages in many, many people's childhoods when you don't have one good friend. It can happen a lot in sixth and seventh grade because that's when things are changing so quickly. It's like a desperate dash for some kind of acceptable identity, and it can get ugly.

The truth is that I think that most people, and most people in this book, 'Goodbye, Stranger', are really doing their best but they're stumbling all over the place and they're hurting each other deliberately and by accident.

Sometimes you never feel meaner than the moment you stop being mean.

I don't know. I just feel stuck, like I'm afraid to take any steps, in case they're the wrong ones.