“Does loving someone mean you want them to be safe? Or that you want them to be able to choose?”

“Words mean what you want them to mean.”

“If you loved someone, if someone loved you, if they taught you to write and made it so you could speak, how can you do nothing at all? You might as well take their words out of the dirt and try to snatch them from the wind. Because once you love, it is gone. You love and you cannot call it back.”

“Long ago people used to say what they wanted out loud and hope that someone would give it to them. They called it praying.”

“I realize now how much courage it takes to choose the life you want, whatever that might be.”

“Do you think you could let someone go if you thought it was best for them?”

“My father has always broken the rules for those he loves, just as my mother has always kept them for the same reason. [...] 'We can't give you the life you want,' my father says, his eyes wet. He looks at my mother and she nods at him to continue. 'We wish we could. But we can help you have a chance to decide which life you want.”