“My life is nothing more than bad timing separated by unimaginable moments of tragedy. I'd reconciled my pain with the promise of revenge ... until her.”

“I don't have kids or even that many friends, but if I did, I'd want my lasting impression on them to be this: Every life matters, but never one more than another. Sometimes silence holds more meani...”

“You're forgiven."I don't deserve her."But not forgotten," I whisper. She'll never forget what I did. It's not humanly possible. Sometimes I want the impossible. Her expression doesn't change. "My h...”

“Food. Small talk. Maybe I say something that makes you grin. Maybe you say something that makes me giggle. Maybe the food is crap, so we drink too much wine. Maybe the full moon beckons us to the b...”

“What do you do?" I ask. "I live.""I live" is not an answer, until I think about it. Maybe it's the perfect answer.”

“A lot of highly-educated people have been told what to think, therefore, they think they know it all. The other segment of the population has to figure out how to think, therefore they question eve...”

“I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to...”

“[C]oncepts of dying in to a heaven or hell seem a good deal more political than spiritual. (124)”

“I want to live the rest of my life, however long or short, with as much sweetness as I can decently manage, loving all the people I love, and doing as much as I can of the work I still have to do. ...”

“The life of my people is to remember forever; each head granary is full. The life of your people is to forget: your thing granaries ("museums"), and not yourselves, are full.”

“We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us.”

“The living sinners on deadly ground.”

“He tried to name which of the deadly seven might apply, and when he failed he decided to append an eighth, regret.”

“I now, weak, old, diseased, poor, dying, hold still my soul in my hands, and I regret nothing.”

“Regrets came up and asked me if Id like to own them. Declined them for the most part but took a few just so I wouldnt leave this relationship empty handed.”