How can both Nics, the loving and considerate and generous one, and the self-obsessed and self-destructive one, be the same person?

Anyone who has lived through it, or those who are now living through it, knows that caring about an addict is as complex and fraught and debilitating as addiction itself.

I didn't cause it. I can't control it. I can't cure it.

A world of contradictions, wherein everything is gray and almost nothing is black and white.

I'm not sure if I know any 'functional' families, if functional means a family without difficult times and members who don't have a full range of problems.

The hopeful part about that is when you do have that help, you will feel better. It still doesn't make this easy. Nothing makes this easy, but you can make better decisions.

An alcoholic will steal your wallet and lie to you. A drug addict will steal your wallet and then help you look for it.

We deny the severity of our loved one's problem not because we are naive, but because we can't know.

Wherever you be, wherever you may, seek the truth, strive for the beautiful, achieve the good.

How innocent we are of our mistakes and how we responsible we are for them.

Along with the joy of parenthood, with every child comes a piercing vulnerability. It is at once sublime and terrifying

Risk is the clue that our dreams are both real and great.

No pain is too small if it hurts, but any pain is too big if it's cherished.

Oh.” It was one those ohs that came packed with layers of meaning — none of which merely meant oh.

Violence against women in all its forms is a human rights violation. It's not something that any culture, religion or tradition propagates.

Always go to the bathroom when you have a chance.

I always wanted to be honest with myself and to those who have had faith in me.

But that's what we all are-just stories. We only exist by how people remember us, by the stories we make of our lives. Without the stories, we'd just fade away.

He doesn't think. He just does. A nonthinking doer.

All athletes, without fail, are potentially great and good. A great athlete is a little man tirelessly inspired.

My own books drive themselves. I know roughly where a book is going to end, but essentially the story develops under my fingers. It's just a matter of joining the dots.