“The point of living in the world is just to stay interested.”

“I wasn't glad that I hadn't died. And I wasn't sad that I hadn't. I wasn't anything.”

“All right, all right," he said, with that gesture I'd come to hate: two open palms facing me and patting the air, as if pushing me away, pushing me down, pushing any tears I might be preparing to c...”

“If you love something, know that it will leave on a day you are far from ready.”

“I thought at times that poetry might be an elegant way of screaming.”

“Like many parents in middle age, he's quick to spot changes in the world, slow to note shifts in his own perspective.”

“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.”

“Lost Time is never found again.”

“How you spend your time is more important than how you spend your money. Money mistakes can be corrected, but time is gone forever.”

“Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them.”