“It's not that you should never love something so much that it can control you.It's that you need to love something that much so you can never be controlled.It's not a weakness.It's your best strength.”

“So we forgive each other?" The crooked smile climbs up one more time. "Again?"And I look right into his eyes, right into him as far as I can see, because I want him to hear me, I want him to hear m...”

“Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this weeks end of the world and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.”

“And the pain is too much its too much its too much and my hands are on my head and Im rearing back and my mouth is open in a never-ending wordless wail of all the blackness thats inside of me.”

“You won't," says the Mayor, smiling again. "Everyone knows you aren't a killer, Todd."He pushes Viola forward again -She calls out from the pain of it -Viola, I think - -I grit my teeth and raise t...”

“Being a leader is making the people you love hate you a little more each day.”

“Ma was heavy, but not fat; thick with child-bearing and work. She wore a loose Mother Hubbard of gray cloth in which there had once been colored flowers, but the color was washed out now, so that t...”

“As Romeo and Juliet found to their cost, marriage is never just about two people falling in love, it is about families.”

“Families share relationships based not only blood, but also the unique affiliation of a terribly long cord when measured in comparison with any other undertaking in a persons life, from cradle to t...”

“work at our responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted on it, because in fact everything in life does count on it.”

“Happiness [is] only real when shared”

“That's what people do who love you. They put their arms around you and love you when you're not so lovable.”

“How can he not share his newfound joy with his fellow man? And it is joy. Theres a pure kind of joy in the certainty of belief. The certainty that your life has purpose and meaning.”

“Rush-hour on the A rain. A blind man staggers forth, his cane tapping lightlyown the aisle. He leans against the door,raises a violin to chin, and says Im sorry to bother you, folks. But please. Ju...”

“If you don't know when you're good, how can you know when you're bad?”