“After you find out all the things that can go wrong, your life becomes less about living and more about waiting.”

“You grow up to become living proof of your parents' limitations. Their less-than masterpiece.”

“I wanted to write about the moment when your addictions no longer hide the truth from you. When your whole life breaks down. That's the moment when you have to somehow choose what your life is going to be about.”

“The old rule about how a thing of beauty is a joy forever, in my experience, even the most beauteous thing is only a joy for about three hours, tops. After that, she'll want to tell you all about her childhood traumas. Part of meeting these jail girls is it's so sweet to look at your watch and know she'll be behind bars in half an hour.”

“Even if you tell yourself "Today I'm going to drink coffee the wrong way ... from a dirty boot." Even that would be right, because you chose to drink coffee from that boot.Because you can do nothing wrong. You are always right. Even when you say, "I'm such an idiot, I'm so wrong..." you're right. You're right about being wrong. You're right even when you're an idiot. No matter how stupid your idea, you're doomed to be right because it's yours.”

“The books on plastic surgery, the pamphlets and brochures all promised to help me live a more normal, happy life; but less and less, this looked like what I'd want. What I wanted looked more and more like what I'd always been trained to want. What everybody wants.Give me attention.Flash.Give me beauty.Flash.Give me peace and happiness, a loving relationship, and a perfect home.Flash.Brandy says, "The best way is not to fight it, just go. Don't be trying all the time to fix things. What you run from only stays with you longer. When you fight something, you only make it stronger."She says, "Don't do what you want." She says, "Do what you don't want. Do what you're trained not to want."It's the opposite of following your bliss.Brandy tells me, "Do the things that scare you the most.”

“Find out what you're afraid of and go live there.”