“His face was tense, his jaw flexed as he stared at her. She could hardly stand to meet his eyes. They were an ocean of betrayal. They probed her, searching for the smallest sign that she didn't mea...”

“He exuded wisdom-even the wisest...were pale, flickering candles next to the nourishing solar illumination of [his] insights.”

“Her hand wandered under his shirt, feeling his rapid breath expand his ribs. She hesitated for a secondwondering what the chances were that either of her parents would come home earlythen lifted hi...”

“I've loved you for a long time, ' she said. 'But there was always something holding me back. Maybe it was that I was afraid of an emotion that was so consuming. It still frightens me,' she admitted...”

“Her hand wandered under his shirt, feeling his rapid breath expand his ribs. She hesitated for a secondwondering what the chances were that either of her parents would come home earlythen lifted hi...”

“I've loved you for a long time, ' she said. 'But there was always something holding me back. Maybe it was that I was afraid of an emotion that was so consuming. It still frightens me,' she admitted...”

“Maybe I didn't march to the same drummer as most people, but I could do things on my own and do them well. That was what I'd learned, little by little, in the year I turned sixteen. I was complete ...”

“They had killed themselves over our dying forests, over manatees maimed by propellers as they surfaced to drink from garden hoses; they had killed themselves at the sight of used tires stacked high...”

“The world seemed to shimmer a little at the edges.”

“If we cannot accept the importance of the world, which considers itself important, if in the midst of that world our laughter finds no echo, we have but one choice: to take the world as a whole and...”