“You should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect, you should expect it.”

“As Isabel acted out her date, both of them laughing, I stayed in the kitchen, out of sight, and pretended she was telling me, too. And that, for once, I was part of this hidden language of laughter...”

“If you try anything, if you try to lose weight, or to improve yourself, or to love, or to make the world a better place, you have already achieved something wonderful, before you even begin. Forget...”

“I knew from experience that no matter how much you turn things in your head, trying to make sense of them, some people just defy all logic.”

“for once, you believed in yourself. you believed you were beautiful and so did the rest of the world.”

“Believe in yourself up here and it will make you stronger than you could ever imagine.”

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”

“If I am going to be drownedif I am going to be drownedif I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and t...”

“I'm an Earth ecstatic, and my creed is simple: All life is sacred, life loves life, and we are capable of improving our behavior toward one another. As basic as that is, for me it's also tonic and ...”