“These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections-sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent-that happened after I was gone. And I began to s...”

“Life is a perpetual yesterday for us.”

“Heaven is comfort, but it's still not living.”

“My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered.”

“Nothing is ever certain.”

“He would find his Susie,inside his young son. Give that love to the living.”

“To create art with all the passion in one's soul is to live art with all the beauty in one's heart.”

“art is risk made visible”

“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”

“I keep drawing the trees, the rocks, the river, I'm still learning how to see them; I'm still discovering how to render their forms. I will spend a lifetime doing that. Maybe someday I'll get it ri...”

“When I started to draw, most of my influences were from other painters and illustrators, so I was drawing landscape at second hand, really. The trees were Rackham trees, or trees that I had seen in...”

“I wish I could draw you how I see you. I'd draw a boy with the most magnetic smile, and the kindest hands, and eyes that are gloomy, but can sometimes be bright. I'd draw a boy who deserves to see ...”

“Baby, you want to talk about what happened, go for it. Im listening. But you know, Im no angel, and Im not finished dancing with the devil. If anyone ever hurts you like that again, theres nothing ...”

“How do you rebel in a family of rebels?”

“I mean, were you born a freak? I asked. I flinched at my own words. I didnt mean to be rude it just came out that way. The girl rolled her eyes to me. I dont know. Were you born stupid? Okay, maybe...”