“I didn't flee a dictator or swim an ocean to be an American like some do. I just thought long and hard about it.”

“Did I mention I've finally decided on a nickname for you?""I didn't know you were looking."Well, I've given the matter some serious thought.""And what have you come up with?""Cookie," I anounced proudly.Xavier scrunched up his face. "No way.""You don't like it? What about Bumblebee?""Worse.""Snookie-Wookie?""Do you have any cyanide?""Well, some of us are just a bit hard to please.”

“I had books and music and the ocean to swim in.”

“First, all I could see was this beautiful face, this beautiful girl's face; like a white, slightly luminous mask, swimming detachedly against enfolding darkness. As if a little private spotlight of its own was trained on it from below. It was so beautiful and so false, and I seemed to know it so well, and my heart was wrung. There was no danger yet, just this separate, shell-like face mask standing out. But there was danger somewhere around, I knew that already; and I knew that I couldn't escape it. I knew that everything [ was about to do, I had to do, I couldn't avoid doing. And yet, oh, I didn't want to do it. I wanted to turn and flee, I wanted to get out of wherever this was. ("Nightmare")”

“I was swimming with the turd sharks in an ocean made of piss”

“I never thought it would be easy to serve God," she said. "I just didn't think it would be this hard.”