“Reading is, at its best, not an escape; it is genuine experience. A novel is not a monologue, but a conversation, a collaboration between writer and reader, an invaluable exchange of human conditions.”

“Sometimes you lie, Forest. Sometimes its the right thing to do.""I don't believe that, Ben.""And why is that?""Because it always catches up with you.""It doesn't, not always.""It does.""Bullshit.""It's the truth, Ben.""No, Forest, it's another kind of lie. If Lizzie draws you a picture of a catfish and it looks like a big hairy turd, what do you tell her? That it looks like shit? That you could draw a better fucking catfish with a crayon up your asshole? No, Forest, you tell her it's the most beautiful catfish you ever saw, don't you? Of course you do. Truth's a slippery slope sometimes.”

“I know I've lost my mind. But I'm not concerned, because it's the first thing I've lost in a long time that actually feels good.”

“I'll never stop caring. But the thing about caring is, it's inconvenient. Sometimes you've got to give when it makes no sense to at all. Sometimes you've got to give until it hurts.”

“I've been thinking about the cruel mathematics of my life, looking at my sums & wishing I'd shown my work.”

“People really do change. Don't let anyone tell you differently. That the future does not conform to the past is not the exception, but the rule.”

“Listen to me: everything you think you know, every relationship you've ever taken for granted, every plan or possibility you've ever hatched, every conceit or endeavor you've ever concocted, can be stripped from you in an instant. Sooner or later, it will happen. So prepare yourself. Be ready not to be ready. Be ready to be brought to your knees and beaten to dust. Because no stable foundation, no act of will, no force of cautious habit will save you from this fact: nothing is indestructible.”