“What if all everybody needed in the world was to be sure of one friend? What if you were the one, and you refused to say those simple words?”

“Max would conclude, "that's who I want to be. The pope. And I'll do the same thing he does. I'll keep all the goddamn money.”

“Hed meant to forgive his brother, maybe even imagined he had. Hed also meant to learn to trust him, but instead merely fell into the habit of waiting for him to fuck up again.”

“Interesting, Miles thought. Like himself, Father Mark, as a child, had been reassured by the imagined proximity of God, whereas adults, perhaps because they so often were up to no good, took more c...”

“You can't possibly judge your ability to control something until you've experienced the extremes of its capabilities. Do you understand?”

“To his surprise he...discovered that it was possible to be good at what you had little interest in, just as it had been possible to be bad at somethingthat you cared about a great deal.”

“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.”