“Watch it, your sanity. Watch the line. What I don’t say is that the line is hardly there. It’s as blurry and fluid as the slope of the shore, from beach to the shallows to water over your head to the open sea. And I’m not really supposed to believe in that spectrum…..But we’re all there on the slope. I think the difference is whether you’ve maneuvered yourself into a position where your head’s above the sea.”

“….watch me rise like smoke from fire.Watch me fly above your hate.Watch me dance upon your meannesslike a ballerina with posture; grace.Watch me laugh over your hatred;watch me soar above your sea of grief.And know that I am out there somewhere… C R U S H I N G.”

“I like the way the morning can be stormy and the afternoon clear and sparkly as a jewel in the water. Put your hand in the water to reach for a sea urchin or a sea shell, and the thing desired never quite lies where you had lined it up to be. The same is true of love. In prospect or contemplation, love is where it seems to be. Reach in to lift it out and your hand misses”

“Four years with no sex? Don’t tell me that you’ve forgotten this is the Age of Electronics? I mean, really, do any of your patients know how long you’ve gone without sex? (Selena)Keep your voice down. I don’t think it’s the business of my patients whether or not I’m a born-again virgin. And as for the Age of Electronics, I really don’t want to get personal with something that comes with a warning label and batteries. (Grace)”

“I’m just tellin’ you to keep your eyes open and watch your heart. Or, more to the point, watch your ass because if you don’t, Shy’ll tap it.”

“To hold you. To smell your hair and hope you don’t notice and think I’m some sort of psychotic. To watch the way the light moves over your skin. I want you to get chilly and sleepy and need to press your body tight to mine, and I want to wrap my arms around you. I want whatever you write in that secret book of yours about me to be worth all the other rotten shit you’re going to wind up accepting down the line.”