“The fish is some­thing to make me set­tle in one place. Ac­cord­ing to church colony doc­trine, it’s why men mar­ry wom­en and why wom­en have chil­dren. It’s some­thing to live your life around.”

“Just some­thing to need you home at night. Some­thing to keep you from liv­ing alone.”

“This is some­thing I’ll go to Hell for.”

“Jump ahead ten years, and not much has changed. Ten years of ther­apy, and I’m still in about the same place. This prob­ably isn’t some­thing we should cel­ebrate.”

“It’s not that I want to get mar­ried. I ad­mire guys who can com­mit to a tat­too.”

“The world can be a lot bet­ter than we set­tle for. All you have to do is ask.”

“So this is why I write. Because most times, your life isn’t funny the first time through. Most times, you can hardly stand it. That’s why I write, because life never works except in retrospect. And writing makes you look back. Because since you can’t control life, at least you can control your version.”