“Even as your body betrays you, your mind denies it.”

“I stare at her for a long moment. I want to kiss her. I want to kiss her more than I've ever wanted anything in my life.”

“With a secret like that, at some point the secret itself becomes irrelevant. The fact that you kept it does not.”

“Sometimes when you get olderand I'm not talking about you, I'm talking generally, because everyone ages differentlythings you think on and wish on start to seem real. And then you believe them, and...”

“After sixty-one years together, she simply clutched my hand and exhaled.”

“Don't mind Russ," he says. "He's a good kid underneath all those holes, although it's a wonder he doesn't spring a leak when he drinks”

“I finally know the difference between pleasing and loving, obeying and respecting. It has taken me so many years to be okay with being different, and with being this alive, this intense. (xxvi)”

“Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence.Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance.Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence.Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.”

“Birthdays could be such a bummer when you were older than the country you lived in.”