“I surround myself with love by loving everything around me.”

“There's nothing more useless than a mind filled with someone else's thoughts.”

“The best teachers become the best teachers by being their own best students.”

“always thought of myself as a loving person. But she was right. I had been a fair-weather friend. As long as she was happy and nice, I loved back. But if she was unhappy or upset, I would feel blamed and then argue or distance myself”

“You lose everything you love in the order in which you love it.”

“I have learned to love me, and now I am free to love everyone else.”

“If I could really love, I would take awaythese tubes dripping lipids and glucoseinto your blood. I would liquefy the thingsyou love and flood them through your veins:our sleeping dogs' rhythmic breathing, hugeorange trumpets of the amaryllis we thoughtwould never bloom, the crunch of the gravelroad coming home. If I could really love,I would climb onto your narrow backand wrap myself around, guarding likea ladybug, or Achilles' mighty shield.”