“Heroes didn't leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they didn't wear boots and capes. They bled, and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else's. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back.”

“Heroes don't leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they don't wear boots and capes. They bled, and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else's. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back.”

“Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else's. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back.”

“You could love many people in your life. Maybe love didn't die even when a person did, but that didn't mean there might not be room for someone else in your heart.”

“You learned that it was easy frighteningly easy to get lost in someone else's life accommodating him and stop being yourself. You learned to be wary about falling in love. And you learned that someone who loved you could stop loving you for some dark reason and even though that was bruising you were more resilient than you knew. Eventually you would get over it more or less.”

“In history, in a movie, in a book, you can always tell who the heroes are; they're the ones rushing into a burning building, giving crucial testimony inthe courtroom, refusing to step to the back of the bus. They're the ones whoact the way you hope you would, if the moment came to you.But the movies and the history books never tell you how they felt, thoseheroes, if they were angry or uncertain or afraid, if they had to think along time before they did the right thing, if they even knew what the rightthing was or just made a headlong guess, just leaped and hoped they landedinstead of falling. They never tell you what it's like to stand on thebrink, wishing you were somewhere--or someone--else, wishing the choice hadnever come your way and you could just go back to your safe, ordinary,everyday life.Because you know what else the books never say? Nobody, hero or not, reallywants to rush into a fire. Because fire burns.”