“I felt empty a lot and I sometimes had a senseand I know this sounds strangethat I really had no existence as my own person, that I could disappear and no one would notice or remember that I had ev...”

“Then there are all of those children, the ones who arent resilient. The ones who slowly, quietly die. I think the difference is that the kids who bounce back learn to bear a little bit more than th...”

“I dont know what I would have done if they had hugged me. I probably would have frozen in place, become stiff. It took most of my life to overcome my distaste for physical contact and not to stiffe...”

“I had decided that I wanted to earn my living as a writer and the only place in Waterbury where they paid you for writing was at the local newspaper. My opportunity came when the paper had an openi...”

“Imagine being beaten up every day for something you didnt do and yet, when its over, you keep on smiling. Thats what every day of Donalds life was like. His death was a small death. No one mourned ...”

“For the first time in my life, I was eating well and from platesglass plates, no less, not out of the frying pan because somebody lost all the plates in the last move. Now when we ate, we sat at a ...”

“There are two types of seeds in the mind: those that create anger, fear, frustration, jealousy, hatred and those that create love, compassion, equanimity and joy. Spirituality is germination and sp...”

“My music teacher offered twittering madrigals and something about how, in Italy, in Italy, the oranges hang on the tree. He treated me - the humiliation of it - as a soprano.These, by contrast, are...”

“If you spend your time hoping someone will suffer the consequences for what they did to your heart, then you're allowing them to hurt you a second time in your mind.”

“Ive been fighting to be who I am all my life. Whats the point of being who I am, if I cant have the person who was worth all the fighting for?”

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

“We got a fightin' side a mile wide, but we pray for peace 'cause it's mostly us that end up servin' overseas.”

“I dont know what I would have done if they had hugged me. I probably would have frozen in place, become stiff. It took most of my life to overcome my distaste for physical contact and not to stiffe...”

“I don’t know what I would have done if they had hugged me. I probably would have frozen in place, become stiff. It took most of my life to overcome my distaste for physical contact and not to stiff...”