“Knowledge was a personal life preserver you could always count on when you were swimming in the deep end”

“... But then again, a person could turn ugly. Their actual look could change when their actions were repulsive.”

“You … You had always made the future feel safe. As long as you were in it too, beside me, I could be okay.”

“Sometimes I’ve even wished there was a human pause button, where you could choose some point in your life where you could stay always.”

“You could try and understand people, you could read books and understand words and concepts and ideas, but you could never understand enough or have enough knowledge to keep away the surprises that both fate and human beings had in store.”

“Good guy. There was efficiency to male language. Those two words were what guys said about other guys that they really respected. Guys they could count on, that were solid, whose word you trusted...The language for the other kind of men-even more efficient. Cut down to a single word they deserved. Asshole.”

“summer, after all, is a time when wonderful things can happen to quiet people. for those few months, you’re not required to be who everyone thinks you are, and that cut-grass smell in the air and the chance to dive into the deep end of a pool give you a courage you don’t have the rest of the year. you can be grateful and easy, with no eyes on you, and no past. summer just opens the door and lets you out.”