“Everything that matters hurts, until it doesn't matter anymore.”

“Hope or perhaps delusion was a flame that had stayed lit, even though its scorching light would hurt. It had refused to go out.”

“I don't know what we're doing here you and me I don't know what we are or what we can be, but this doesn't have to be about that. This can just be about a chance. Taking a chance.”

“God, she butted her head into his chest, I'm so angry with myself.What? Why?Because this is my mess I dragged you into, and you don't deserve any of it, and I feel like I'm ruining you with every ...”

“Hope – or perhaps delusion – was a flame that had stayed lit, even though its scorching light would hurt. It had refused to go out.”

“She had forced herself to learn to read – picked up bits and pieces, here and there, from the very few teachers who had been patient with her; from looking at words while out and about; from televi...”

“Some experiences are universal. A girl is a girl whether she lives in West Omaha or Sweet Valley. Books are often far more than books.”

“A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.”

“The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,And all the sweet serenity of books”

“Seek a slower, simpler life.”

“There is no such thing as escape after all, only an exchange of one set of difficulties for another. It wasn't Mark or the farm or marriage I was trying to shake loose from but my own imperfect sel...”

“Talking won't change it. But sometimes it was what she wanted most, to tell someone; often, though, she just wanted to escape those horrid feelings, to escape herself, so there was no pain, no fear...”

“And I do. I do wonder, I think about it all the time. What it would be like to kill myself. Because I never really know, I still can't tell the difference, I'm never quite certain whether or not I'...”

“An important step in escaping mediocrity is to stop worrying about what other people think of you.”

“Sometimes, to escape a bad relationship and reclaim our lives, we have to break a piece of our heart off, like a wolf chews its leg off to escape a steel trap.”