“For who so firm that cannot be seduced?" she'd written.”

“But a lot of times, people die how they live. And so last words tell me a lot about who people were, and why they became the sort of people biographies get written about.”

“But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail”

“So hard to die.' I don't doubt that it is, but it cannot be much harder than being left behind.”

“maybe she'd been scared of being paralyzed by fear again.”

“You like someone who can't like you back because unrequited love can be survived in a way that once-requited love cannot. ”

“Meriwether Lewis's last words were, 'I am not a coward, but I am so strong. So hard to die.' I don't doubt that it is, but it cannot be much harder than being left behind.”