“Just because there were times you were frightened doesn't mean you weren't brave.”

“Without doubt, it is the greatest act of courage that is often the most fearful.”

“You were the one who hit me on the roof?I hit you on the jaw. We just happened to be on a roof at the time.”

“Just because everybody uses language, that doesn't mean that they can write even tolerable prose.”

“Were you dropped on your head as a baby or did your mother just throw you against a wall ?”

“That Nick is a nice boy."I eyed her. "He doesn't like me.""Really? Are you trying to convince yourself or me? Because I found him pressing a bandage to your head while you were passed out drooling on the couch.”

“I just want some time, Mikhail, to think things through. It’s frightening, the way I am about you. I think about you every minute; I want to touch you, just to know I can, to feel you beneath my fingers. It’s as if you crawled into my head and my heart, even my body, and I can’t get you out.”