“COOL·NESS [KOOL-NIS] -nounCATCHING your mom gazing at the crazy crowd like she finally gets itWATCHING your dad head-banging like he’s Finn’s twin brotherLEARNING that your new friends Tash and Kallie are a thousand times more complicated than you realized, and loving them for itFEELING every one of your boyfriend’s pounding drumbeats, and thinking it’s the most romantic music ever writtenREALIZING you’re completely unique . . . even in a crowd”

“Realizing you're completely unique... even in a crowd”

“Hey, O Holy One, if the only people you want to read your book are the ones who already agree with everything in it, what was your point in the first place? Isn't the goal to reach non-believers?”

“Don’t worry about wanting to change; start worrying when you don’t feel like changing anymore. And in the meantime, enjoy every version of yourself you ever meet, because not everybody who discovers their true identity likes what they find.”

“Not at all. It's why people come. They say it's about looking smart, or beautiful, or professional, but it's not. Gray-haired ladies try to recapture their former brunette. Brunettes want to go blond. Other women go for colors that don't arise innature. Each group thinks it's completely different than the others, but I don't see it that way. I've watched them looking at themselves in the mirror, and they're not interested in conforming or rebelling, they just want to walk out of here feeling like themselves again.”

“How did he keep playing when money gotreally tight, and there was no more food in the house? How did he play on when it became clear he was flunking out of school? Was music really enough when the whole world seemed to be collapsing around him? Or was it just the only thing left?”

“He was depressed. He was addicted to heroin. And I think there comes a time when all the beauty in the world just isn’t enough.”