“How many words are you having trouble with, sir?""Just the ones that I've highlighted.""I count at least a dozen, and I haven't gotten out of the first paragraph.""That's as far as I got, too. I'm not sure you and I speak the same language.”

“It's like I've had a stroke. Do you think I've had a stroke?" "I don't think you've had a stroke.""But how do you know? How can you be sure I haven't had a stroke?""What are the symptoms of a stroke?""I don't know. Look them up. Look them up on line.""OK. Hold on...OK. Here it is. Do you have trouble speaking?""I have trouble speaking intelligently.”

“Say something, Amy," Miranda insists. "Something positive. I'm sure it'll make you feel better.""Okay, Miranda. I've got it." I motion the girls to lean in close to hear my words. "At least I'm not dead."How's that for positivity?I have to admit it does make me feel better.”

“I don't know how you're standing here. Yet you haven't broken. Not where it matters. Having come this far, I'm not sure you can be broken.”

“For other people, I can't speak - but, personally, I haven't gotten wise on anything. Certainly, I've been through this and that; and when it happens again, I say to myself, Here it is again. But that doesn't seem to help me. In my opinion, I, personally, have gotten steadily sillier and sillier - and that's a fact.”

“I have been a believer in the magic of language since, at a very early age, I discovered that some words got me into trouble and others got me out. ”