“She talked all the time and at first it was about people and places.”

“She thought for the first time, with happiness: perhaps I have a life in people's minds when I am not there to be seen or talked to.”

“Life is too short to waste any amount of time on wondering what other people think about you. In the first place, if they had better things going on in their lives, they wouldn't have the time to sit around and talk about you. What's important to me is not others' opinions of me, but what's important to me is my opinion of myself.”

“People sometimes talk about the power of first impressions, and believe me, there is truth to it.”

“. I’d known from that first time we’d talked on the steps at my dad’s beach house that she was a good girl, and I’d liked that about her – so much.”

“... not talking about things she doesn't understand to people who do or about things she does to people who don't.”