Next to the first Henry and Meg, Henry had written, “Promise?” Well, that genie’s out of the bottle and there’s no stuffing her back in.

It was an oddly satisfying idea to feel bereft as I left my mother this time. We only feel bereft when we’re deprived of something meaningful.

Wyatt told me once that if tenderness were a disease, I’d be terminal.

Hearing my brother’s words coming out of Henry, this stranger in a strange town, made me feel wild with all the loss—wild and wired with no place to put those feelings.

I turned my ear toward the door because I heard him breathing. When you’re alone and afraid, the simple sound of the steady in and out of air being drawn by another person is good medicine.

I found I could only glance at him for tiny moments and then I had to look away. He was perfect enough to hurt my feelings for a long time, and I wanted to let him.

Then let me be your mercy, ” he said. “I’ll never be able to give you smart answers about why we suffer, but I can come into your world and try to be some kind of help to you.

I smiled at him. Not even Wyatt would have known how to be this honorable when talking about a girl that had hurt him.

Hmmm. What you’re saying is that you’ve never been kissed?” He picked at a string on the blanket under us.

He leaned toward me and said his name like he was sharing a secret and it made me think he probably kept a lot of secrets. His smile was sweet and his teeth the tiniest bit crooked.

I could’ve gone on and on but the truth was all that mattered. “My brother died because someone was jealous.

We were created fearless in order to achieve our goals more effectively

You must not hate those who do harmful things. The compassionate thing is to do what you can to stop them--for they are harming themselves as well as those who suffer from their actions.

It would be nice, wouldn't it? if we could get comfortable about the problem of freedom. Kant thinks that we can't.

Maybe in the general scheme of things he couldn't find any meaning in life, but on a smaller scale it was okay. Not always, but a lot of the time.

the tentacles of today reach out like an octopus to swallow yesterday.

I don't think there's any harm at all in allowing a kid to fantasize. In fact, I think to stop people from fantasizing is a very destructive thing indeed.

I carry the landscape inside me like an ache. The story of who I am cannot be severed from the story of the flatwoods.

I wish I'd said it first, and I don't even know who did: The only problems that money can solve are money problems.

I skate now for fun and to keep myself in shape.

Practice beauty appreciation in as many places as possible. Nature provides a virtual smorgasbord of miracles. See the beauty in all of it.