Nothing really mattered that much, not the good things and not the bad ones. We were in the business of mutual amusement, and we were reasonably prosperous.

Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.

Amsterdam is like the rings of a tree: It gets older as you get closer to the center.

I feel like crying, so I must be crying, but it's impossible to tell because I'm underwater.

...And in freedom, most people find sin.

So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.

A taste so profound and complex that it can't even be compared to other tastes, only to emotions. Cheesy waffles, I was thinking, tastes like love without the fear of love's dissolution.

My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.

The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.

All those paper people living in their paper houses, burning the future to stay warm.

I would always love Alaska Young, my crooked neighbor, with all my crooked heart.

I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit.

Hannah Rose Brown was not quite 13 years old when she discovered her family was cursed. THE PUZZLE RING

What's the point in having a mind if you don't use it to make judgements?""What's the point of having a heart if you don't use it to spare others from the harsh judgements of your mind?

Nobody can teach what is inside a person; it has to be discovered for oneself and a way must be found to express it.

It wasn't like, 'I'ma lose weight and start doing dramas.' I wanted to be healthier, and that was the impetus for wanting to lose weight - it's just about being healthy and feeling good.

I'm a compulsive sneaker collector, mostly limited edition.

Brooklyn has a bit of everything - some of the most beautiful things in America, and some of the most wretched, ugly, impoverished things.

We need to provide an education which teaches crit­ical thinking and encourages the development of mature moral values.

Both triumph and disaster are impostors.

I think I make better use of language and imagery than when I started out.