Unless it was Cokie, gifts from men weren't free.

I leapt eagerly into books. The characters’ lives were so much more interesting than the lonely heartbeat of my own.

But wasn't there some sort of rule that said parents had to be smarter than their kids? It didn't seem fair.

I stared at the enormous homes, the landscaping and flower beds immaculate. It was as if dollar bills, instead of leaves, hung from the trees.

They got everything money can buy, their bank accounts are fat, but they ain't happy. They ain't ever gonna be happy. You know why? They soul broke. And money can't fix that, no sir.

They have a baby grand piano, but no one in the family plays. They have shelves of books they've never read, and the tension between the couples was so thick it nearly choked us.

Light fell, and so did my confidence.

We sat and drank in silence. It was something I appreciated about Jesse. He didn't feel the need to fill every moment with talk or some sort of silly exchange.

We pushed to the edge of recklessness, yet I felt safe.

He wrapped his arms around me and planted a kiss straight on my lips, hard and long. It felt like I was watching the kiss instead of being inside of it.

And she didn't judge nobody. She loved everyone equal- accountants, queers, musicians, she welcomed us all, said we were all idiots just the same.

God is not against you owning things, but he is against the things owning you.

...it only takes one voice, at the right pitch, to start an avalanche.

I was raised on government cheese. As an adult, in my first marriage, my husband and I worked real hard just to go bankrupt. I happened to write some jokes about it. I did real well for myself.

I used to sell furniture for a living. The trouble was, it was my own.

Man, if I can get a burp out of that little thing I feel such a sense of accomplishment.

I am inclined to believe that some music, like certain poetry, finds its appeal and way to all.

Young children are such nasty little beasts!

Seeing is not as simple as looking.

When Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg was before us in 1993, she said that her standard was to give no hints, no forecasts, no previews, and declined to answer dozens of questions.

How easy it is for the proper-false in woman's waxen hearts to set their forms!