“My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage." - Aunt Frances”

“You know, being normal isn't a terrible thing," he says."It isn't terrible," I agree. "It's just a lack of courage.”

“It may be normal, darling; but I'd rather be natural.”

“In fact, a lack of randomness denotes an abysmal spirit.”

“Courage is chief among virtues. For when any virtue is challenged, it is courage alone that can restore virtue.”

“When I think about everything that's happened since school started, well, I don't think the word 'normal' applies to any of it. Verbena is right - I'm way past normal. Only I've realized that when you move beyond normal, the road you're on doesn't necessarily take you to the land of the abnormal or the weird or the freakish. Instead you might find yourself in a place where people build Freedom School and have the courage to live large. It's a place where people don't worry too much when they get a little goat poop on their shoes.”