“Throwing up was no big deal. It was a lot less painful than hemorrhoids or tooth decay, and more refined than diarrhea”
“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.”
“And so we all matter - maybe less than a lot, but always more than none.”
“It happens that I despise that locution, "having sex," which describes something a good deal more mechanical than making love and a good deal less fun than fucking.”
“It takes a lot more energy to bury pain than it does to confront it.”
“A tooth is much more to be prized than a diamond.”