“Those confiding their pain cannot know at the outset how much they will be required to relive it.”

“Intimacy requires courage because risk is inescapable. We cannot know at the outset how the relationship will affect us. Like a chemical mixture, if one of us is changed, both of us will be. Will we grow in self-actualization, or will it destroy us? The one thing we can be certain of is that if we let ourselves fully into the relationship for good or evil, we will not come out unaffected.”

“Optimism requires confidence, and confidence is built on trust. And trust, as we know, flows in both directions.”

“I know I cannot undo this. None of us can undo what we’ve done, or relive a life already recorded.”

“From those to whom much is given, much is required.”

“Yes, confidence was knowing I could do anything. But, I realized, confidence must always be rooted in work. In sweat. In pain-good pain. And in honesty.”