“The one thing I could give them was a smile. I've always been good at smiles.”

“We fought over a girl's smile, not because of the color of our skins. It created friendships, not hatreds.”

“Leila was untouchable. She was in my heart now, and I'd carry her always, on this earth that every day gives men a chance.”

“I was the last, the sole survivor. The most honorable thing a survivor could do was survive. If you stayed on your feet, stayed alive, you were the winner.”

“...I understand where you're coming from. I know it isn't just a question of revenge. It's the feeling there are some things you can't let pass. If you did, you wouldn't be able to look at yourself in the mirror afterwards.”

“I felt suffocated. And alone. More alone than ever. Every year, I ostentatiously crossed out of my address book any friend who'd made a racist remark, neglected those whose only ambition was a new car and a Club Med vacation, and forgot all those who played the Lottery. I loved fishing and silence. Walking the hills. Drinking cold Cassis, Lagavulin, or Oban late into the night. I didn't talk much. Had opinions about everything. Life and death. Good and evil. I was a film buff. Loved music. I'd stopped reading contemporary novels. More than anything, I loathed half-hearted, spineless people.”

“Sometimes, all it takes is one gesture, one word, to change the course of someone's life. Even if you know it won't last forever.”