“Sweetened ice tea is one of the things I love about the South, right up there with homemade biscuits and cheese grits.”

“I just wonder if sheer force of will to forgive can be enough to set things right Because after all, power is one thing. Love is a different creature altogether.”

“I still think I love him more. It's one of those things you never know for certain because there's no way to enter all the relationship data in a computer and have it spit out a definitive answer. You can't quantify love, and if you try, you wind up focusing on misleading factors.”

“But one thing I have to say about Darcy and dating is this: she never blew us off for a guy. She always put her friends first- which is an amazing thing for a high school girl to do.”

“Things certainly aren't the way you imagine them when you're a kid and dreaming big dreams about what your life as a grown-up will look like.”

“The worst thing about this particular end (of my youth) and the beginning (of middle age) is that for the first time in my life, I realize I don't know where I'm going. My wants are simple: a job that I like and a guy whom I love. And on the eve of my thirteth, I must face that I am 0 for 2.”

“Everyone has a messed-up family to one extent or another but we all have an obligation to rise above it. Live in the present and stop sniveling about the past.”