A year ago he had been in America. Two years ago he had been straight. Tonight he was underground, with the remains of the bogey man, lit by the torches of the children who had killed him.

But what are they?” Annie asked.“An omphalos, probably, ” said Jacob.“A what, dear?” Melinda asked.“A bellybutton of the world.”“I didn’t know it had one.

– I’m going to be a writer, he reminded Milo.– And you won’t need literature?– I’ll write my own.

By its nature a relationship was not an accomplishment. It was just a connection that happened to exist, for as long as it did exist.

Since he had given up men he had taken up geography. He visited a new sight or a new neighborhood nearly every weekend.

He was in the flow of time now. He was in a story.

There’s always a story that people are telling about themselves, and sometimes you can get them to tell it ever so slightly differently.

It is perhaps necessary for something dear to be lost.”“Why?”“Perhaps it is necessary to the making of a story. A story after all is a way of remembering love.

It’s a question of wanting to know how the story turns out. And one can only know that about one story, ever.

I suppose it does come with a certain responsibility.”“What does?” asked Annie.“The magnificence of my person.”“Gah.

Like capitalism, ” Carl suggested. “‘We’ll give you so much pleasure, you’ll never want to try another socioeconomic system.

Success makes winners ... Failure makes experienced

Never will you talk to me like that again.

The value of a sentiment is the amount of sacrifice you are prepared to make for it.

Let your requests be made known unto God.

The thinker requires exactly the same light as the painter, clear, without direct sunshine, or blinding reflection, and, where possible, from above.

The thought of' the inferiority of the Negro is drilled into him in almost every class he enters and in almost every book he studies.

I could wish there were a God, if it were only to ask him to bless thee.

When we die our entire legacy is simply the added together strengths of all the connections we make with others. This is the ghost of ourselves we leave behind. This is showing up.

I was a very quiet kid. A really sweet kid, I might add.

If a man needs a religion to conduct himself properly in this world, it is a sign that he has either a limited mind or a corrupt heart.