“...what John likes best are the small and undramatic moments that make for a kind of easy comfort, for a feeling of being grounded in arelationship.”

“….in a small place like this, it’s as easy to get consumed by the idea of trying to make a difference as by the anger of not being able to.”

“Everything--the section of comfortable chairs in the middle, the long colourful chains that dangled lights from the ceiling--seemed designed to make you feel like you were part of something larger, without actually being made to feel small.”

“The best kind of book," said Barnaby, "is a magic book.""Naturally," said John.”

“The real trouble is that 'kindness' is a quality fatally easy to attribute to ourselves on quite inadequate grounds. Everyone feels benevolent if nothing happens to be annoying him at the moment. Thus a man easily comes to console himself for all his other vices by a conviction that 'his heart's in the right place' and 'he wouldn't hurt a fly,' though in fact he has never made the slightest sacrifice for a fellow creature. We think we are kind when we are only happy: it is not so easy, on the same grounds, to imagine oneself temperate, chaste, or humble.”

“Failing to make it to the list of the best 5 students in class or not being named the team captain should not make anyone feel like they have failed.”