“...because if there was one thing he didn't like it was big words, they just lied and covered things up, those big words, they didn't let what really was live and breathe but just carried it off into something that wanted to be big, that's what he thought...”

“Kjærleiken er den andesom gjer at vi finst tilKjærleiken er den vandesom vil og ikkje vilKjærleiken er ei lykkeog han er sorga di, han går der bak eit stykkeog så går han forbiKjærleiken er som lyset,det kjem og det forsvinnKjærleiken er det gysetsom seier tap og vinn”

“Can you be happy when you are unhappy?”

“He says my daughter, and all the love he has is wrapped up in the tone of his voice when he says those two words, he says my daughter you must always look with both of your eyes and listen with both of your ears. He says this is a very big world and there are many many things you could miss if you are not careful. He says there are remarkable things all the time, right in front of us, but our eyes have like the clouds over the sun and our lives are paler and poorer if we do not see them for what they are.He says, if nobody speaks of remarkable things, how can they be called remarkable?”

“He read a lot. He used a lot of big words. I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking. Sometimes he tried too hard to make sense of the world, to figure out why people were bad to each other so often. A couple of times I tried to tell him it was a mistake to get too deep into that kind of stuff, but Alex got stuck on things. He always had to know the absolute right answer before he could go on to the next thing.”

“You must always look with both of your eyes and listen with both of your ears. He says this is a very big world and there are many many things you could miss if you are not careful. There are remarkable things all the time, right in front of us, but our eyes have like the clouds over the sun and our lives are paler and poorer if we do not see them for what they are. If nobody speaks of remarkable things, how can they be called remarkable?”

“This was why there was music, he realized. There were some feelings that just didn't have words big enough to describe them.”