Though there were moments of beauty, Mariam knew for the most part that life had been unkind to her.

Attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun.

hills that stand soft and a sky that stands high and blue, and the sun setting behind a windmill, and always, always, hazy strings of mountains that fall and fall away on the horizon.

One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.

And that's the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.

A man who has no conscience, no goodness, does not suffer.

Nothing good came free. Even love. You paid for all things. And if you were poor, suffering was your currency.

But time, it is like charm. You never have as much as you think.

The desert weed lives on, but the flower of spring blooms and wilts.

I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded; not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.

Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life. Silence is pushing the off button. Shutting it down. All of it.

A heart full of love and a joyful smiling face is the best makeup for life.

Father, it’s Wistala. Wistala.”Father grimaced. “You’re a star, Wistala — I saw you twinkling beneath dear Irelia last night. You, Auron, and Jizara all in a row. I’ll be up there soon. Wait.

We are much harder on people who betray us in small ways than on people who betray others in great ones.

The record industry is still pissed off that other people are making money off their business, even if it promotes their products and increases their sales. I think they're still mad about radio.

Ask me not what I have, but what I am.

I definitely wanted much more normalness than what was around me.

We forgive but not forgotten

Since ancient times, philosophers have maintained that to strive too hard for one's own happiness is self-defeating.

No one sat me down with a piece of paper and said, This is what is expected of you. But... I'm lucky enough in the fact that I have found my role... I love being with people.

The smells of Christmas are the smells of childhood [p. 53]