“By things so achingly small are lives measured and marred.”

“Her throat ached: adoration, heartbreak, in equal measure. “Kiss me,” she said. “Please.”

“When I express my opinions it is so as to reveal the measure of my sight not the measure of the thing.”

“Normally, in anything I do, I'm fairly miserable. I do it, and I get grumpy because there is a huge, vast gulf, this aching disparity, between the platonic ideal of the project that was living in my head, and the small, sad, wizened, shaking, squeaking thing that I actually produce.”

“Even if you've never experienced the wonderful things in life, only after something has been contaminated and marred will it become a beautiful thing. Pain can be healed with gentle care, darkness can be removed with sunlight. Don't underestimate the small things. Everything is significant.”

“I really am only one infinitely small part of an aching humanity.”