“I remembered my conversation with Myles Dunphy when I agreed to join him in the fight to save the blue gum forest. 'Opportunities are made, Mrs Rockcliffe,' he had said. 'They don't happen of themselves. I don't want to read about the achievements of people with verve. I want to be one of those people myself. It's not enough to be intelligent and thoughtful. You have to be bold.”

“As André and I left for South America, the newspaper boys were screaming headlines like: 'Stocks Collapse: Nationwide stampede to unload'; 'Unexpected torrent of liquidation'; and 'Two and a half billion in savings lost'. The worst part was the stories of ruined businessmen leaping from windows thirty storeys high and from the Brooklyn Bridge.'If they calmed down things would stabilise faster. They might even see opportunities for fortunes to be made,' said André.I nodded my agreement. But I knew something that André didn't; something those businessmen might have known too. I knew what it was like to be poor--and that once you had become rich, anything was better than being poor again.”

“I knew what it was like to be poor, and that once you had become rich, anything was better than being poor again.”

“When I was young I wanted so much to be like her. What a blessing are those moments when there is nothing to worry about, no thought of trouble or grief in the world.”

“Don't you find it strange that your mother would leave you?' Becky said. 'I can't imagine my other leaving me.'I'd never thought of it like that before. 'I don't think she knew what else to do.”

“I kissed my fingers,held my palm flat beside my mouth and blew it into the air that surrounded her memory. I closed my eyes, thinking this was one of those moments you see in movies or read about in books where everything comes together.”

“i thought love was about caring about someone day in and day out, about being there when it's fucking amazing, and still wanting to be there when it feels like crap. i thought it was about for ever' -will, calling romeo”