“I had a rule that it was better to be bored by yourself than to be bored with someone else. I pretty much lived by that rule. Maybe that's why I didn't have any friends.”

“The only rule I have found to have any validity is writing is not to bore yourself.”

“I leaned back to look at her, seeing only her, this girl who was Ally but also Alona, and who bore a resemblance to a friend i'd once had but was someone new. Someone i could live without, but didn't want to”

“He only knows great teachers can bore into someone else's mind like this -- only they have this kind of power. Maybe that's why teachers are paid so little: what they earn has more power than money.”

“I don't know why I started writing. I don't know why anybody does it. Maybe they're bored, or failures at something else.”

“They follow meaningless, boring rules and live meaningless, boring lives."Ahh," I say. "Except for you, of course."That's right."Because you eat butter straight from the pan."She arches her eyebrows, like Hey, I call it like I see it.Whatever," I say. "I'm not going to eat Snoopy just to make a statement.”