All that was left for me was a terrible kind of paralysis, this waiting game, this heartbreak game.

It was our favorite part of the day, this in-between time, and it always seemed to last longer than it should--a magic and lavender space unpinned from the hours around it, between worlds.

My life was my life; I would have to stare it down, somehow, and make it work for me.

Sometimes I wish we could rub out all of our mistakes and start fresh, from the beginning,' I said. 'And sometimes I think there isn't anything to us but our mistakes.

Maybe happiness was an hourglass already running out, the grains tipping, sifting past each other. Maybe it was a state of mind.

If I can write one sentence, simple and true every day, I'll be satisfied.

I miss good old-fashioned honorable people just trying to make something of life. Simply, without hurting anyone else. I know that makes me a sap.

Dogs are easy. If their tails are up and their eyes are soft, you're in.

Not everyone out in a storm wants to be saved

I'd had my share of rain. My mother's illness ... had weighed on me, but the years before had been heavy, too. I was only twenty eight.

She was also incredibly confident, with a way of moving and talking that communicated that she didn't need anyone to tell her she was beautiful or worthwhile.

Loss is a knife, constantly cutting, but over time the blade dulls, and the cuts aren't as sharp. It's always there in the drawer, but you realize it doesn't cut as deeply anymore.

...don't criticize what you can't understand, your sons and your daughters are beyond your command.

It was only recently that Isabelle had realized other girls weren’t just for envying, avoiding, or disliking.

I've shut myself inside these walls, and I'm going to be a very lonely old lady if I'm not careful.

Anything you can say, think, feel, trust or feel is untrue - is an illusion. The fact that there are these things is an illusion.

How do you get rid of the trash? It's out there in society, it's going on every day. You can educate children an awful lot easier than you can get rid of the trash.

I'll be peeing like a champion in no time

And when Elvis was unhappy, believe me, everyone was unhappy.

Not even computers will replace committees, because committees buy computers.

I want to write music that's going to appeal to everyone.