“Remembrance is acknowledging that a life was lived ...My father finally wrote out his memories for a reason. I took on a year of reading books for a reason. Because words are witness to life: they ...”

“We are what we love to read, and when we admit to loving a book, we admit that the book represents some aspect of ourselves truly, whether it is that we are suckers for romance or pining for advent...”

“Sorrow is the violent smashing of reason, in that reason has no power over it.”

“Stories about lives remembered bring us backward while allowing us to move forward.”

“Desire for a person is not the same thing as having that unique appreciation and need for them, nor is affection. Desire waxes and wanes, and affection can be felt without long-standing commitment....”

“Cyril Connolly, twentieth-century writer and critic, wrote that words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living. That was how I wanted to use books: as an escape back to...”

“Cyril Connolly, twentieth-century writer and critic, wrote that words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living. That was how I wanted to use books: as an escape back to...”

“Smiling at someone can have significant health consequences.”

“You're not free unless you come to the place where you have nothing to prove.”

“A man who has HEALTH has a thousand dreams, but a man without HEALTH has only one.”