There is no safer. There’s not even safe, never has been.

You’re not dead, but you’re not alive, either. You’re a wintergirl.

I want to go to sleep and not wake up, but I don’t want to die.

Cutting pain was a different flavor of hurt. It made it easier not to think about having my body and my family and my life stolen, made it easier not to care... -Wintergirls

We turned us into wintergirls, and when she tried to leave, I pulled her back into the snow because I was afraid to be alone.

There is no magic cure, no making it all go away forever. There are only small steps upward; an easier day, an unexpected laugh, a mirror that doesn't matter anymore.

I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles.

So, she tells me, the words dribbling out with the cranberry muffin crumbs, commas dunked in her coffee.

They yell at me because I can't see what they see. Nobody can explain to me why my eyes work different than theirs.

In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves.

Write about the emotions you fear the most.

The Church of England is the Tory party at prayer.

Modern conquerors can kill, but do not seem to be able to create. Artists know how to create but cannot really kill. Murderers are only very exceptionally found among artists.

[from a reader] I hope she learns to look for the joy in life instead of picking out negatives - it will change her life for the better.

Humankind seems to have an enormous capacity for savagery, for brutality, for lack of empathy, for lack of compassion.

You have to exercise, or at some point you'll just break down.

Everyone's in their own personal coma.

Did you see the statue topple? Bill Clinton got nostalgic seeing something that big in a beret go down.

Every life is a profession of faith.

I would have all my offensive linemen wrestle if I could.

You never get every job you want.