Josh joined her at the window. She let him look. He should know that the world was not all lessons and iguanas and Nintendo. It was also this muddy simple boy tethered like an animal.

It was that impossible thing: happiness that does not wilt to reveal the thin shoots of some new desire rising from within it.

Every step was a victory. He had to remember that.

I guess you just have to trust your kids, trust that their innate interest in life will win out in the end, don’t you think?

A bad thing happened to you kids, Dad said. But it could have been worse.So much worse, Mom said.But because of you kids, Dad said, it wasn't.You did so good, Mom said.Did beautiful, Dad said.

Is this the baby?" I said.Ma turned on me again."What do you think it is?" she said. "A midget that can't talk?

The thing about girls? Suzanne said. Is we are more content-driven.

Stand tall, my friends, when the fool comes around.

Literature is my life of course, but from an ontological point of view. From an existential point of view, I like being a teacher.

I couldn't care less if the guy I'm guarding has HIV. I'm going to slam him anyway.

Ten truths must you find during the day; otherwise will you seek truth during the night, and your soul will have been hungry.

Egypt is coming back - is becoming - is going to become, you know, a center of excellence for the region and maybe for the rest of the world.

There has to be some certainty about who the leader is before the summer break.

Aspire to be the man you pretend to be when you're trying to get laid.

Bad things happen, but you can still live.

...the greatest weapon against big stupid men was a sharp mind.

Too much is never enough.