“I’d rather have a cup of coffee and a cigarette than live in all that honesty.”

“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.”

“I didn't understand how you could live in a mean world and not have any of that meanness rub off on you. How could a guy live without meanness?”

“And why was it that some guys had tears in them and some had no tears at all? Different boys lived by different rules.”

“But the thing is that I’m in love with Rafael’s story. I think I understand when Adam says that all our stories are different but in some ways our stories are all the same. I never really got that. But when I start to read Rafael’s journal, it’s as if I can see myself. It’s better than a mirror.”

“Sometimes, all you have to do is tell people the truth. They won't believe you. After that, they'll leave you alone.”

“For a moment, I thought of the word happy and it was a word that just, well, it felt like it was visiting me. I knew it wouldn’t last for very long and I’d be sad again and then it would be worse because it’s one thing to be sad and it’s another thing to be sad once you’ve been happy. Being sad after you’ve been happy is the worst thing in the world.”