“Romantic love is pure fantasy. It destroys a woman's common sense; there simply is no place for it within the walls of a rational mind. You're better off eating a plug of chocolate!" Rachel in Small Pleasures: Mya's Story”

“‎"Living inside an over-sized body, I felt safer than I had in years. But something was missing. My heartbeat, I could no longer feel it beneath the walls of fat and pain." Small Pleasures: Mya's Story”

“A man like Sterling wouldn’t understand, even though he heals sick people. He’ll never love you right. He doesn't love you right, or else you'd be home right now cooking and cleaning and waiting for him. He doesn’t know how to taste your pain much less fix it. I was gonna tell him more but he closed the door in my face. I guess that’s how a gentleman would do it but a real man wouldn’t have whipped his wife . . .” Small Pleasures: Mya's Story (chapter, The Devil Whips His Wife)”

“Taken slowly, or mindfully, even eating an orange or a bowl of soup, or a small piece of dark chocolate for that matter, can take on the flavor or prayer.”

“Marrying a woman for her beauty makes no more sense than eating a bird for its singing. But it's a common mistake nonetheless.”

“But common sense has no place in first love and never has.”

“To a man, sex is the ultimate expression of love. It is pure pleasure. But to a woman there exists something greater than pleasure―gestures of adoration. A gentle caress on the cheek, an attentive smile, a soft kiss while swept away in a slow dance, the whispered words 'You're beautiful'―these are the tokens of love that women cherish.”