“Most of us plateau when we lose the tension between where we are and where we ought to be.”

“He found himself in habiting the vast, empty plateau where most people live, between boredom and contentment.”

“Most of us don't mind doing what we ought to do when it doesn't interfere with what we want to do, but it takes discipline and maturity to do what we ought to do whether we want to or not.”

“Stories nurture our connection to place and to each other. They show us where we have been and where we can go. They remind us of how to be human, how to live alongside the other lives that animate this planet. ... When we lose stories, our understanding of the world is less rich, less true.”

“It is not important what happens where; Where we fall or rise, What we conquer or lose, How big or small we are.”

“Reading gives us somewhere to go when we have to stay where we are.”