“There wasn't any point in dwelling in the pain of the past, not when the future could hold suck pleasure.”

“I believe in black holes. I believe that as the universe empties into nothingness, past and future will smack together in the last swirl around the drain.”

“There is a point when grief exceeds the human capacity to emote, and as a result one is strangely composed-she had reached that point.”

“I'll never forget the stillness, the hesitation, and a trace of something I'd never before seen on Ghosh's face: cunning. Then it gave in to resignation and a faraway look. For a moment I saw the world through his eyes, his intellect, his sweeping vision...a vision that recapitulated our birth and looked to the future, looked past his life to the end of mine and beyond. And then and only then did it settle, gather, and focus, on the now, on a moment when the love was so palpable between father and son that the thought that it might end, and this memory be its only legacy, was unacceptable.”

“Your job is to preserve yourself, not to descend into their hole. It's a relief when you arrive at this place, the point of absurdity, because then you are free, you owe them nothing.”

“Being the firstborn gives you great patience. But you reach a point where after trying and trying you say, Patience be damned. Let them suffer their distorted worldview. Your job is to preserve yourself, not to descend into their hole. It's a relief when you arrive at this place, the point of absurdity, because then you are free, you know you owe them nothing.”

“Wasn't that the definition of home? Not where you are from, but where you are wanted”