“Hope was a sunrise, a friend in the alley, a whisper in an empty corridor.”

“the whisper of space being compressed.”

“he could feel his hope wilting.”

“This, perhaps, is how lives are measured, a series of abandonments that we hope beyond reason will eventually be reconciled.”

“But have heart. Hope is something that can be very dangerous but without it life would be horribly dry. Impossible, even. Take it from me.”

“Behind her leg a shy little girl - Grace - smiling up. "Dad?" It was a kind hope. But his dreams spoke to none of that: when he slept he dreamt of darkness, or of people he did not recognize, or of water closing slowly, almost gratefully, over his head.”

“You ever hope for something so much? So much you can't sleep, so much your skull hurts? But the thing is, you don't even know if the thing you're wishing for is possible? You don't even know if it could happen? And it's all out of your control?”