“You cannot escape where you come from, September. Some part of it remains inside you always, like the slender white heart in the center of the thickest onion.”

“It's always good to remember where you come from and celebrate it. To remember where you come from is part of where you're going”

“He was the same as everyone else: he carried his past inside him. There was no escape from it. No matter how hard you push it down, the truth always comes to the surface.”

“I think you're a taker. You've always been one. It's like God left some part of you out when He built you inside of me.”

“Village is an idea; universe is an idea! If you cannot create an idea bigger than your village you live in, you remain inside your village; if we cannot create an idea greater than this universe, we remain inside this universe!”

“I tell him about ... Jack and Annabel, smart and ready and I'm wondering where all that smart comes from and I figure some from parents, some from school, and some from a place inside you.”