“I don't have any need to breathe. You are my breath.”

“I should have seen it coming.” The words don’t surprise me, but they piss me off. I pull away and glare down at her. “Don’t you fucking dare, Nell Hawthorne. Don’t you dare put this on yourself. Yo...”

“Blame is the creed of the disempowered.”

“The most judgmental people are often those who complain most about being judged. The ones not complaining will look as though they're the ones doing the judging.”

“A child is not to blame for being immersed in a certain environment and handed down complexes”

“I respect the hell out of her for how hard shes working to be okay. I just wish shed let me show her how to let go, how to let herself hurt. I want to take her pain.”

“But we have to learn to be free. We have to, Nell. Doesn't mean happy all the time, or okay all the time. Its okay not to be okay. I told you that, but I'm relearning it myself. But not being okay ...”

“She closes her eyes, and I can see the moisture. Shes deep-breathing again, and I notice her hands are clutched around the opposing wrists, nails digging in deep, hard, scratching. Pain to replace ...”

“How 'bout a shot of truth in that denial cocktail.”

“... you sometimes had to force people to say things they would rather not articulate, just so they could hear their own words. It was interesting the way people could know things and not know them ...”

“To regret ones own experiences is to arrest ones own development. To deny ones own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of ones own life. It is no less than a denial of the soul.”