“Hell isn’t some fiery pit “down there.” It’s right here on Earth, in every dirty city, every yawning town.”

“ParadiseA concept embraced by almost every culture. A land of peace and harmony. Some say itdoesn't belong to the earth, that there is no Shangri-la, no utopianwilderness for the living.”

“A word to the unwise.Torch every book.Char every page.Burn every word to ash.Ideas are incombustible.And therein lies your real fear.”

“Scientists say every action initiates an equal and opposite reaction. I say that's just the start. I say every action initiates a most unequal and upredictable chain reaction, that every filament of living becomes part of a larger weave, while remaining identifiable. That every line of latitude requires several stripes of longitude to obtain meaning. That every universe is part of a bigger heaven, a heaven of rhythm and geometry, where a heartbeat is the apex of a triangle.”

“Every high has an equal, measurable low.”

“Some peopleNever find the right kind of loveyou know, the kind that stealsyour breath away.Like diving into a snowmelt.The kind that jolts your heart,sets it beating apace.An anxious hiccuping of hummingbirds wings.The kind that makes every terrible minute apart feel like hours.Days.Years.Some people flit from one insane possibility to the next.Never experincing the connection of two people.rocked by destiny.Never knowing what it means to love someone else,more than themselves.More than life itself, or the promise of something better.Beyond this world,More even (forgive me!) than god.Lucky me, I found the right kind of love.With the wrong person.”

“I'm sad. Pressed down by sorrow. I'm angry. Pissed at God, if there is one, and the way things are. I'm scared. Confused by the whys. Why are we here? Is there, really, some intelligent design? Why do we cry for someone who leaves us if there's some Grand Pearly Gate in the sky? Why worry about how we build our lives if the ultimate ending for all is death, a single breath away?”