“If you don't like something about yourself, change it. If you're OK with it, you gotta own it. There's nothing in between.”

“The strangest thing about strange things is that they're only strange when you hear about them or think about them later, but never when you're living them.”

“Funny how you can measure time by pets that were not even your own.”

“Uncle Stash said you didn't have to be crazy to to do something stupid, just young.”

“Before she closed her eyes tonight, Rose said she regretted that she has not done something heroic in her life. Well, it's not like she can suddenly climb a tree and save a cat, or go to medical school and begin some important cancer research. But Rose has been my sister. I think that's heroic.”

“What is it about sadness that can be so fulfilling?”

“I can't exactly say why I've chosen to write about the things that I am writing about. There are doubtless better stories from my life that I am missing, events and escapades I am not wise enough to know were important. If heaven is tolerant and writers are allowed (bunch of liars that they are), I wonder if they gather for coffee to ponder the prose they should have written instead. p 179 ”