“I can be hurt, you know. I can get as exhausted as anybody else. I can feel so bad I want to cry, too.”

“But walking down the stairs feeling each stair carefully and holding to the banister he thought, I must get her away and get her away as soon as I can without hurting her. Because I am not doing too well at this. That I can promise you. But what else can you do? Nothing, he thought. There's nothing you can do. But maybe, as you go along, you will get good at it.”

“Mara, if you're tired, I can hear it. If you're hurt, I can feel it. And if you lie, I will know it.”

“I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want.”

“Here I am alive, and it's not my fault, so I have to try and get by as best I can without hurting anybody until death takes over.”

“Nick, if I can have you, I don't want or need anything or anybody else in the world. Call it whatever you want. Just say yes.”