“The familiarity of his kiss breathes me back to life.”

“I prick my hand as I seize the rose from her. “I’ll think about it.” A small spot of blood forms on my palm and I realize I’ve been bleeding on the inside this whole time, all these years. It was o...”

“Problem is, though, sooner or later, physical pain, it's... it's manageable. See, real pain is emotional pain. That is the kind of pain that lasts.”

“Admitting pain humbles us to the reality of our personal histories and our present conditions. We no longer have to pretend we are something that we are not.”

“The world laughed at any attempts we made to exist in it without pain.”

“Children betrayed their parents by becoming their own people.”

“But marrying within one's own family can get monotonous. One has heard all the same family stories, knows all the jokes and all the same recipes. No novelty.”

“She took comfort in the familiarity of his smell, knowing that if she lost all her possessions and her home, at least she would have her family.”