“I finally realized that what I wanted didn't exist where I thought it did.”

“No one knew where I was, not a soul, and while I thought this was what I wanted, I realized, in the quiet of that room, that it was the scariest thing of all”

“Reality hasn't really sunk in yet, I knew that. I didn't want to know what life was going to feel like when it finally did.”

“I finally realized how absurd it was that I'd worried so much about what my classmates thought about me. It's not like I wanted to look like them.”

“Here was a man who wanted what no one had wanted before: he wanted to get to know the inner workings of the doll-like woman who was me. Karl wasn't interested in me; neither was Johnson. But Kijima's father liked me for who I was. The realization left me feeling numb. I was touched. But being touched is not the same as feeling desire. And I didn't exist without desire. If I didn't exist, then what?”

“As soon as I was out in the street, I realized I didn't want to be alone after all, I realized I didn't want to be anything at all.”