“...dismayed that I would pass up true adventure for the sake of a fake one I'd never get around to inventing.”

“That's the detail of the dead woman I always remember: her bare left foot, along with packets of Top Ramen and a torn box of cat food strewn about as plastic bags danced in the wind of passing cars. I always think how, when she left the house that day, the last thing on that woman's mind must have been the possibility of dying on the pavement with dried noodles crowning her head. Maybe if she had paid more attention to detail, like the oncoming car, she would have made it home to feed her cat.”

“I'm sure you've heard people use the term, "You just don't get it." Well, I figured out the 'it' is the point in life. I believe I was supposed to have been there when my father died, but it was a point in life I just didn't get.”

“We were all like a gaggle of hermit crabs without shells, flopping around trying to find ourselves. Instead we found each other, and that's just as good, I guess.”

“But things never go according to plan. In fact, I think if you're really attached to controlling your future, you should plan for the opposite of what you want just to confuse the cosmic comedians whose sole job is to figure out what you think your future should hold so they can preclude it from ever happening.”

“Our duty," he said, "is to catapult each other into greatness!" We are not great yet, but at least we sometimes experience moments of immeasurable glee. At least we are not wholly miserable every minute of the day, and we know we have made one another into what we are today.”

“When one has let go of that great hidden agenda that drives humanity and its varied histories, then one can begin to encounter the immensity of one's own soul. If we are courageous enough to say, "Not this person, nor any other, can ultimately give me what I want; only I can," then we are free to celebrate a relationship for what it can give.”