“And we all know love is a glass which makes even a monster appear fascinating.”

“Sometimes the monsters are not monsters, she says. I know. I nod. And sometimes the monsters are within us all, even in those we think are most good.”

“We all know that parents do not make children but that children make parents…Authentic parenting is one long sacrificial act…parenting reveals the way that sacrifice at once diminishes our life as we knew it…while at the same time revealing to us larger and infinitely more fascinating forms of life…Parents know experientially that the very process which makes them suffer also makes them grow.”

“I'm an invisible monster. I'm incapable of loving anybody. You don't know which is worse.”

“Children, you must understand, are monsters. They are ravenous, ravening, they lope over the countryside with slavering mouths, seeking love to devour. Even when they find it, even if they roll about in it and gorge themselves, still it will never be enough. Their hunger for it is greater than any heart to satisfy. You mustn't think poorly of them - we are all monsters that way, it is only that when we are grown, we learn more subtle ways to snatch it up, and secretly slurp our fingers clean in dark corners, relishing even the last dregs. All children know is a sort of clumsy pouncing after love. They often miss, but that is how they learn.”

“There is light underwater, even at night, but it is a far cry from the lights that we all know and love... the light by which the reaper reads his list.”