“Man loneliness was much bigger than boy loneliness.”

“Some boys... Are perfect shits. & other boys are very, very beautiful.”

“The summer sun was not meant for boys like me. Boys like me belonged to the rain.”

“Why did I have to be a good boy just because I had a bad-boy brother? I hated the way my mom and dad did family math.”

“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.”

“Dante and I were the last two boys in America who grew up without television.”

“For a few minutes I wished that Dante and I lived in the universe of boys instead of the universe of almost-men.”