“I've tried to shield myself from life and inhabit my own small, safe corner; but there's no immunity from life.”

“Education is a great shield against experience. It offers so much, ready-made and all from the best shops, that there's a temptation to miss your own life in pursuing the life of your betters.”

“Alex, I don't need to keep myself safe from you. I don't want to keep myself safe from you. You mean too much to me. I'd rather have a lifetime of heartache, from you breaking my heart, than even imagine my life without you at all. Because a life without you wouldn't be a life at all.”

“A fence can protect you from cows but not from tanks! In life, there is no complete shield.”

“No Blame: The most liberating and empowering day of my life was the day I freed myself from my own self-destructive nonsense.”

“There's a cover for every pot, but I've never seen so many mismatched pots and covers in all my life. - Ellen Wasserfeldman, from Notes from Ellen Wasserfeldman by Alisa Dana Steinberg”