“This is what happens when you try to help people. You get screwed.”

“I’ve learned to get really good at this—say one thing when I’m thinking about something else, act like I’m listening when I’m not, pretend to be calm and happy when really I’m freaking out. It’s one of the skillsyou perfect as you get older. You have to learn that people are always listening.”

“If Conrad remembered the skinny, frightened girl he'd held for one brief moment on a frigid Boston street corner, he showed no signs of it when we met...Even as I tried to urge hum back against the pillows, he looked at me with wild eyes. "What happened to your leather jacket?" he asked. "Shh," I said, trying to sooth him. "There's no leather jacket." "You were wearing it the first time I saw you," he said, frowning slightly.”

“There is only what you want and what happens. There is only grabbing on and holding tight in the darkness.”

“Don't you get it? You can't tell me what to feel.”

“You have to go forward: It's the only way. You have to go forward no matter what happens. This is the universal law.”

“That's when you really lose people, you know.When the pain passes.”