“. . . But then you will want to put that {publication} behind you right away. You will want to recover the obscurity you swim best through. You've got eternal youth there. You'll never be satisfied. If you get lucky, it will be a darkness so pure it will mirror not the 'self,' but the mysterious 'other.”

“Women, after a certain age, never look at you anymore with absolute faith showing in their eyes. Those candles are for children. Rather, paradoxically, when a women is beginning to have faith in you, she eyes you with doubt, as if she were weighing you in as trustworthy, but against her better judgment.”

“Because you will never, ever have the life God’s planned for you as long as you’re holding on to that fear. You can’t swim to shore if you never let go of that life preserver.”

“God, why can’t I get over this? I’ve conquered so many things, met so many challenges head-on. Yet today just proved…some things you can never leave behind.”

“With the way all the girls are looking at you, I might never get my chance.' I glanced behind us. 'Heck, even that big boy in the blue suit over there is watching you like candy.''It's possible I might've offered him a slow dance.”

“It's hard for a man to know exactly when a woman doesn't trust him anymore. Maybe it's because a women goes on trying to have faith, knowing her faith is important, and so she tries not to identify a particular moment she stops respecting him. Only later can she look back and see a time when something inside her decided.”

“Do you have something to surrender today? Do you need God to meet you in the fire like he did those three men? Because sometimes you have to step out on faith into something that’s gonna scare you so bad, your hair’s gonna stand and you’re gonna be crying for your mama before God pulls you through the other side.”