“Young women looking after a children's summer camp, the ice-cream vendor's horn (his cart is a gondola on wheels, pushed by two handles), the displays of fruit, red melons with black pips, translucent, sticky grapes -- all are props for the person who can no longer be alone. [1] But the cicadas' tender and bitter chirping, the perfume of water and stars one meets on September nights, the scented paths among the lentisks and the rosebushes, all these are signs of love for the person forced to be alone. [2][1] That is to say, everybody.[2] That is to say, everybody.”

“Four questions about the glass and the water. Is it 1/2 full, 1/2 empty, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be and what did you do with the water.”

“Things that Shane doesn't want on his grave: (1.) I thought it wasn't loaded.(2.) Hand me a match so I can check the gas tank.(3.) Killed over Ice Cream”

“I am not going to get into it myself, except to say(1) if I am writing "boy fiction," who are all those boys with breasts who keep turning up by the hundreds at my signings and readings?and(2) thank you, geek girls! I love you all.”

“This particular strand of feminism is characterized by two tenets: 1. men are jerks, and 2. women should strive by all means to become like them.”

“1. Each person's talents are enduring and unique.2. Each person's greatest room for growth is in the areas of his or her greatest strength.”