“Everyone needs to be needed, wants to be wanted, and loves to be loved.”

“But like most actions that rely on faith, it still took plenty of our own muscle and ingenuity.”

“I wonder if to be human is to know that we can't ever banish pain and ugliness from the world, only learn from it and create something beautiful and good out of it ...”

“Love doesn’t know any better. Those kinds of feelings are rare. You need to hold on to love when you can. And if it lasts, it lasts. And if it doesn’t, you deal with it.”

“I couldn’t bear to think of my mother loving me but unable to face me, to stare into my eyes, to care for me emotionally, to offer me her face. Like any daughter, as much as I wanted to separate from her, I wanted to be deeply connected to her, I wanted to redeem her, I wanted to protect her. I wanted to love and to understand, in that order.”

“I love you. I promise you don’t need to worry about anybody else stealing my heart because there is no competition. You won a long time ago.”

“Love isn't always clean and pretty--sometimes it's messy, cruel, and confusing. And sometimes, it doesn't turn out the way you want it to. But then, the beauty of love is that it's very strong, and when it's real, it's worth it.”