“The bottle is where everything sad or mean or confusing can go. And the blues--it's like that bottle. But in the bottle there's a seed that you let grow. Even in the bottle it can grow big and green. It's full of all those feelings that are in there, but beautiful and growing too.”

“I don't know if it's better to have people laugh at what you are or just not understand.”

“If there’s no one else to tell another side - the only story that can be told is the story that becomes true. (p. 173)”

“Seeing Grandma this way, it makes me know for certain that everything about a person will show up in another person in the family.”

“We live in the same house but we both feel lonely. We and lonely don't belong in the same sentence.”

“A woman made of parts is a dangerous thing. You never know when she'll throw away a piece you may need.”

“I can't get rid of the sadness," Laronne said."Well," David said, "then we'll just keep it company.”