“It was hard to trust in happiness, coming from another person, but . . . there was so much of it, around him.”

“Lea--when a man climbs a glass mountain, it's not usually for the damn golden apple. It's for the person he gives the apple to.”

“Humble people were unsettling at best. All that lack of backbone. It was just creepy. Like talking to linguine.”

“It’s true that iffriends can never count on you being there the next timethey need you, the place they leave for you might be verysmall. That’s self-defense. If you abandon people—even if it’snot your fault—they will eventually get over you and findsomeone else. Good for them. But you’re an adult now, andyou can build things as deep and as long-lasting as you wantto. I wish you wouldn’t underestimate your ability to makepeople love you. - Aunt Aja”

“A small, inexplicable part of me was scared, right from the start - of counting on someone, of trusting that he'd always be there for me - as much it was exactly what another part of me wanted.”

“His conviction that everything happened for a reason, and would come to good, gave him laughing equanimity even in hard times.”

“It's about not taking things personally. Even when you feel the world is crumbling around you. It's about choosing happiness over suffering. It's about retraining the way we think.”