“While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.”

“A man can fantasize about other women and thinks they are in love with only one person.WhilstA woman cannot. They consider it as cheating.”

“When Carleton was three months old, Henry had realized that they’d misunderstood something. Babies weren’t babies—they were land mines; bear traps; wasp nests. They were a noise, which was sometimes even not a noise, but merely a listening for a noise; they were a damp, chalky smell; they were the heaving, jerky, sticky manifestation of not-sleep. Once Henry had stood and watched Carleton in his crib, sleeping peacefully. He had not done what he wanted to do. He had not bent over and yelled in Carleton’s ear. Henry still hadn’t forgiven Carleton, not yet, not entirely, not for making him feel that way.”

“Jeremy and Karl and Elizabeth have known each other since the first day of kindergarten. Amy and Talis are a year younger...Now the five are inseparable; invincible. They imagine that life will always be like this--like a television show in eternal syndication--that they will always have each other. They use the same vocabulary. They borrow each other's books and music. They share lunches, and they never say anything when Jeremy comes over and takes a shower. They all know Jeremy's father is eccentric. He's supposed to be eccentric. He's a novelist.”

“If you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything for you."--Manilyn Monroe"If you make a woman cry for a lot of times, you are giving her permission not to diminish her love for you.”

“Let go of the mistakes and the sins of others. You'll have plenty of time to make your own mistakes, the rest of your life to commit your own sins.”

“Man or woman......It doesn't matter! One of strength......And nobility......Is always a prince.”