It was the first time that I had ever been romantically kissed. It was even better than the chocolate cake.

It is in the dark times that the light of friendship shines brightest.

There are people I've yet to meet who are waiting for my path to intersect with theirs, so they can complete their own journeys. I don't know who or where they are, but I know for certain that they are waiting.

There's a problem with marrying up. You always worry that someday they'll see through you and leave. Or, worse yet, someone better will come along and take her. In my case, it wasn't someone. And it wasn't something better.

...for we are all amateurs at life, but if we do not focus too much on our mistakes, a miraculous picture emerges. And we learn that it's not the beauty of the image that warrants our gratitude--it's the chance to paint.

When a man loses his vision of the future he dies.

The smells of Christmas are the smells of childhood [p. 53]