“If you can't build yourself up without pushing someone else down, it's time to step back and reevaluate just what you're trying to accomplish.”

“Your life is your path. It's what's right in front of you. You can't walk down anyone else's path. The task is to live your own and to not try to follow someone else's path just because you think it looks better.”

“Isn't it kind of silly to think that tearing someone else down builds you up?”

“what's fate to you, opal? she asks. opal leans back, too. oh, lots of things. lots and lots of things all pushed up against each other that makes something else happen. so much pushing it just can't happen any other way - unless you push back to make it not. ”

“when you're honest with yourself, often times you betray someone else!”

“It's not about who you sleep with, or whether you know about sports or tools or have a pearl-wearing wife or whether commercials make you cry. [...] it's about whether you step up. When something hard comes along. A man steps up. He doesn't dodge it or run away from it or try to push it onto someone else. He steps up. Even if it isn't his responsibility. And that's why there are so many guys and so few men. Because stepping up is hard.”