“I'm not going to do it again," Lena Marquez whispered to the red purse across the hall from her nestle of blankets. "Never again.”

“Before her parents were killed, Lena hadn't minded school. She had even liked some of her classes. Now school was just watching the clock tick.”

“Maybe I had found true love. Not that true love is a bitter, rotten dead monkey in a box. But then again, maybe.”

“I love writing, but hate starting. The page is awfully white and it says, 'You may have fooled some of the people some of the time but those days are over, Giftless. I'm not your agent and I'm not your mommy: I'm a white piece of paper. You wanna dance with me?' and I really, really don't. I'll go peaceable-like.”

“No; he could be ruined again and again by hope, but he would never be capable of belief.”

“Never put off for tomorrow, what you can do today.”

“Ask yourself what makes you come alive....and go do that.”