“Little kids are amazing. They seem able to adjust to anything.”

“One day, quite some time ago, I happened on a photograph of Napoleon’s youngest brother, Jerome, taken in 1852. And I realized then, with an amazement I have not been able to lessen since: ‘I am looking at eyes that looked at the Emperor.’ Sometimes I would mention this amazement, but since no one seemed to share it, nor even to understand it (life consists of these little touches of solitude), I forgot about it.”

“Time, it seemed, was not our enemy after all. It was just air and space and hours. Anything worth having was able to withstand it.”

“Parenthood is an amazing opportunity to be able to ruin someone from scratch.”

“I mean they don't seem able to love us just the way we are. They don't seem able to love us unless they can keep changing us a little bit. They love their reasons for loving us almost as much as they love us, and most of the time more.”

“I draw the light with my fingers, and it seems to spark in response. And it’s then that the magic of this place, this night beach, gets to me. Because that sparkling thing could be anything. A fallen star, a little buried sun. I feel like I’m a kid again. When there was so much to see. So much wonder.”