“Another thing about Oscar is that he wasnt afraid of anyone. And he always made up his own mind, no matter what other people said. Theyre two of the best things I remember about him now.He wasnt ju...”

“Oscar had a straightforward, dimpled, happy smile. It was one of the hundreds of great things about him.And after that we were best friends. It had been as simple and inevitable as the striking of ...”

“What am I going to do without you, Oscar?Youll be fine, I answered. You could probably do some time away from me. Im a pain in the neck. Youre always saying so.Youre right, she said. Itll be great ...”

“I dont remember now who took the photo of us, but Ive had it in my room for years. Were leaning out of our windows and were laughing at each other with joyfulness purer than anything to do with the...”

“Id never have predicted I would lose touch with him before, that is, I did. I thought I had my reasons. But it turns out that they werent good reasons. It turns out that you should never lose cont...”

“The truth a fairly important thing to hold on to when youve been pulled out of the sea after wanting to drown in it. I couldve let the sea take me. I could easily be dead now, which is funny when y...”

“I know what you might be thinking here on your own, but those thoughts won’t last for ever,’ I said. ‘You won’t always feel like this. This will pass. Homer will be here for you, and the sun will r...”

“One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts- just mere thoughts- are as powerful as electric batteries- as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as...”

“I have seen these persons speak unthinkingly, not realizing that to speak is also to be. Word and gesture are man's thought. We should not speak without reason.”

“Iron turns red when it corrodes, and copper turns green. Meat turns to maggots, and thoughts turn to speech.”