“You've gotta pick your battles in this world...”

“You've forgotten how sunlight feels warm and rough against your skin like a kiss on the cheek from your dad, and the whole world is brighter and clearer than ever before.”

“God, it’s over. Takumi, you gotta stop stealing other people’s problems and get some of your own.”

“I brought you a snack," Takumi said, dropping an oatmeal cream pie onto my book."Very nutritious," I smiled."You've got your oats. You've got your meal. You've got your cream. It's a fuckin' food pyramid.”

“The oblivion fear is something else, fear that I won't be able to give anything in exchange for my life. If you don't live a life in service of a greater good, you've gotta at least die a death in service of a greater good, you know? And I fear that I won't get either a life or a death that means anything.”

“You need not specifically discuss the perspectives of different religions in your essay, so no research is necessary. Your knowledge, or lack thereof, has been established in the quizzes you've taken this semester. I am interested in how you are able to fit the uncontestable fact of suffering into your understanding of the world, and how you hope to navigate through life in spite of it.”

“And people are moody, dude. You gotta get used to living with people.”