“Although she was gregarious, she inadvertently separated herself from people because she was so often inside her own head, focusing on her creativity.”

“Gaming was "one of the only times when you only have to focus on one thing." But even more than that, "It's like an anchor. As long as I know it's there, it's part of me. It's some form of continui...”

“If there is a single factor that spells out the difference between the cafeteria fringe headed for greatness and those doomed for low self-worth, even more than a caring teacher or a group of frien...”

“Imagine what it must be like for teenagers who don't feel they have room to breathe in their own homes. If you are a parent reading this book, you care about your child. If she is quirky, unusual, ...”

“Too many parents fail to understand that there is a difference between fitting in and being liked, that there is a difference between being "normal" and being happy. High school is temporary. Famil...”

“My heart broke not only for the daughter who already was forced to become her mother's alarmingly narrow ideal, but also for the middle daughter who knew that her in mother's mind she had already f...”

“The only calibration that counts is how much heart people invest, how much they ignore their fears of being hurt or caught out or humiliated. And the only thing people regret is that they didn't li...”

“I wonder if fears ever really go away, or if they just lose their power over us.”

“Fear is all in the mind”

“One of the best ways to influence people is to make them feel important.”

“We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.”

“Musics the soundtrack of my life and has been since I was a teenager. Theres always music. If Im not playing it, Im listening to it. With my writingsometimes it inspires a story, sometimes it highl...”

“I figured it is always better to be unpopular by your own choice.”

“Teachers knew every one of the students, their secrets, their grades, their home situations. And all the students knew the teachers. It was like teachers were people who finally were the most popul...”

“He was highly spoken of, everybody knew; but nobody knew who had spoken highly of him”