“Birthing is never easy or without pain, be it a universe, a child, or a fresh start in life. Contraction precedes expansion. Darkness comes before dawn. Joy follows pain. This is the way of things.”

“Opening to love will always involve risk,but a heart safe from pain is one also locked to joy.”

“Sadness is a bruise on the skin of memory.”

“When sorrow's cup is filled up to the brim,the slightest touch of memory can cause tears to spill again.”

“His heart was like a battered guitar; worn and scuffed from a life spentout on the road, but still capableof bringing forth beautiful music.”

“I am no blank slate for love to write on.My heart has walls marred with cracks,bloodstains, and bullet holes;graffitied over by past lovers.”

“love is my thighs,this belly,my eyes.love is my speech,the search,my cry.love is myself in the mirror.i will see love every time.”

“Love isn't about what you do for me. Love for me is where I see myself in relation to you.”

“What I am or am not wearing does not correlate with my competency as a professional, a mother, or a feminist role model. My clothes do not define me and nor does my nakedness. I define me.”

“Look, everyone talks about the unknown like it's some big scary thing, but it's the familiar that's always bothered me. It's heavy, builds up around you like rocks, until it's walls and a ceiling a...”

“Where do one's fears come from? Where do they shape themselves? Where do they hide before coming out into the open?”

“If you want to make a million you don't have to understand money, what you have to understand is people's fears about money”