“Love, marriage, divorce, infidelity... life was the same here as anywhere else, wasn't? She realized now wrong she'd been; the pali wasn't a headstone and Kalaupapa wasn't a grave. It was a community like any other, bound by ties deeper than most, and people here went to their deaths as people did anywhere: with great reluctance, dragging the messy jumble of their lives behind them.”

“People don't live in New Orleans because it is easy. They live here because they are incapable of living anywhere else in the just same way.”

“But love wasn't about sacrifice, and it wasn't about falling short of someone's expectations. By definition, love made you better than good enough; it redefined perfection to include your traits, instead of excluding them. All any of us wanted, really, was to know that we counted. That someone else's life would not have been as rich without us here.”

“It was as if hope had appeared out of nowhere to settle beside her and it wasn't going anywhere, it wasn't going to desert her now.”

“She was beginning to realize people could survive most things. Not because thy were brave or strong, but because there wasn't any choice.”

“Ya've got no respect, woman," Beck retorted. After the door closed behind him she realized what he'd said."Woman?" He wasn't calling her girl any longer.If that wasn't a sign the world was ending, what other proof did she need?”