“You don't have to have a boyfriendor a girlfriend to know love.Just open up your heart andlet the world in. Your heartis bigger than you can imagine,and so is the world, and so,granddaughter, are you.—Addie's grandmother”

“This business of really knowing people, deep down, including your own self, it is not something you can learn in school or from a book. It takes your whole being to do it—your eyes and your ears, your brain and your heart. Maybe your heart most of all.”

“When you're living through it, though, especially when you are twelve and you think the whole world is changing until you realize it isn't the world, it's you, no piece seems little. It's all so big you think it can kill you. But it doesn't. Which is why the story goes on.”

“Who do you seewhen you think of you?Are you an outsider,Cool, distant, angry,swimming against the current,or are you in the flow?When they tell you,This is who you are,do you say yes or no?Who do you seewhen you look beyondthe skin and the surface,when you drift to sleep,when you are the personno one else knows? Whoare you on the inside?Don't answer these questions.Not yet. First, open your eyes,your mind, your heart.See.”

“Sometimes I think it's easier to stand up to the whole school -- or the whole world even -- than it is to stand up to one person, especially if that person really matters to you.”

“If getting is the key to your happiness your key will open few doors. If giving is the key to your happiness you will find few doors locked.”

“The way I look at it, love does not necessarily make for a happy ending any more than winning does. What makes for a happy ending is what Addie said all along: freedom. The freedom to be who you are without anybody calling you names. —Bobby Goodspeed”