“I should have known better. I shouldn’t have let my guard down. That’s been a big rule of mine for the last year or so. It’s easy to get your heart broken or your shoes stolen.”

“The darkness is calling. A little danger, a little risk. Feel your heart race. Listen to it. That’s the sound of being alive. It’s your time, Nick. Your one chance to have fun before it’s all stolen by them, the adults, with their cruelty and endless rules, their can’t-do-this, and can’t-do-that’s, their have-tos, and better-dos, their little boxes and cages all designed to break your spirit, to kill your magic.”

“I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.”

“There is a big difference between having your heart broken and being the one responsible for a broken heart. I was twelve years old and had already experienced both.”

“Please send me your last pair of shoes, worn out with dancing as you mentioned in your letter, so that I might have something to press against my heart.”

“Because misery, and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will did it. I have no broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine. So much the worse for me that I am strong.”