“It's an odd idea for someone like me to keep a diary; not only because I have never done so before, but because it seems to me that neither I - nor for that matter anyone else - will be interested in the unbosomings of a thirteen-year-old school girl.”

“Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I’ve never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year old schoolgirl. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I feel like writing, and I have an even greater need to get all kinds of things off my chest.”

“It seems to me that, later on, neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the chatterings of a 13-year-old schoolgirl…”

“Let me note, finally, that most of the research for this book was done in the libraries of Harvard University, the size of whose holdings is matched only by the school's determination to restrict access to them. I am delighted to have been able to use these resources, and it hardly matters that I was afforded this privilege only because the school thought I was someone else.”

“It had gotten to the point where it seemed like nothing matters, because I’m not a real person and neither is anyone else.”

“Before our vacation, the idea of keeping a diary and scribbling my thoughts on paper seemed silly and stuck-up. And besides it was usually something I thought only unhappy girls did.”