Was this their exact exchange? Almost certainly not. Still, it is my best memory of their exchange.

History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.

Some of the freckles I once loved are now closer to liver spots. But it’s still the eyes we look at, isn’t it? That’s where we found the other person, and find them still.

Later on in life, you expect a bit of rest, don't you? You think you deserve it. I did, anyway. But then you begin to understand that the reward of merit is not life's business.

What you end up remembering isn't always the same as what you have witnessed.

Time...give us enough time and our best-supported decisions will seem wobbly, our certainties whimsical.

And yet it takes only the smallest pleasure or pain to teach us time’s malleability.

May you be ordinary, as the poet once wished the new-born baby.

Life seemed even more of a guessing game than usual.

I thought of the things that had happened to me over the years, and of how little I had made happen.

Is there anything more plausible than a second hand?

We can't control what the ratings will be. It's like, if you're going to go skiing, do you hope you'll have a good day of skiing? Yes. Do you hope you won't break your leg? Yes.

Gave my money all to you, took my watch and pawned it, too.

There is danger in courage. Cowardice is a power for good. We hardly know what it prevents.

We win or the alumni bash in our teeth. (On the dental plan at NC State)

Never talk yourself out of knowing you're in love or into thinking that you are.

For me, as a child, I certainly thought that there were more black people in the world than white people.

Life is an endlessly creative experience, and we are shaping ourselves at every moment by every decision we make.

The best way to behave is to misbehave.

I don't text, I don't have a Blackberry. Literally, I just have a cell phone that I haven't programmed and the whole Bluetooth. No. I don't even have an earpiece for my cell phone.

When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.