“Because the more you changed, the less of you there was.”

“What you notice is the loneliness. Daniel started to isolate himself, because it hurt less than being pushed away.”

“I know that there will be other women, but they couldn't compare. Maybe I'll change, maybe love will change, but I think we were a once-in-a-lifetime. You could never leave me; that's why I am not more upset. You can't possibly break these feelings. They stretch, and they last.”

“Honey, Kate is not going to die sooner because you have one more glass of mine, or because you stay overnight in a hotel, or because you let yourself crack up at a bad joke. So sit your ass back down and turn up the volume and act like you're a normal person.”

“if you were quiet and blended into the background, you were less likely to make waves”

“Although you hadn't asked why, it had less to do with you not noticing than with you not wanting to hear the answer.”

“The first question she was asked was What do you do? as if that were enough to define you. Nobody ever asked you who you really were, because that changed. You might be a judge or a mother or a dreamer. You might be a loner or a visionary or a pessimist. You might be the victim, and you might be the bully. You could be the parent, and also the child. You might wond one day and heal the next.”