“Be smart, be strong, be proud, live honorably and with dignity, and just hold on.”

“Be strong. Live honorably and with dignity. When you don't think you can, hold on.”

“I know a bit about the loss of dignity. I know that when you take away a man's dignity there is a hole, a deep black hole filled with despair, humiliation and self-hatred, filled with emptiness, shame and disgrace, filled with loss and isolation and hell. It's a deep, dark, horrible fucking hole, and that hole is where people like me live our sad-ass, fucked-up, dignity free, inhuman lives, and where we die, alone, miserable, wasted and forgotten.”

“I feel strong. Not strong enough to face myself, but strong enough to keep going.”

“I think men who can cry are strong men”

“She is sitting on frozen ground wrapped in a blanket, her pale skin shining. She smiles and she stands and without words, she steps forward, opens the blanket, envelops me within it and within her and within myself. She kisses my cheek, the one not torn, she wraps me and she holds me. Her arms are thin but strong. She whispers in my ear, "I'm glad you're here.”

“I hold beneath pale green.”