“It's not the heart that decides, or still less the brain, but rather it's the voice in the throat that goes ahead into all these risks.”

“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.”

“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.”

“. . . 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.”

“This is Ireland, Finley. It's rough. It's wild. And it is holy.”

“When I look at you, I still see the son I love more than my own life. But I also see a man who has become so far removed from what matters that his perception is skewed. Family is real, son. A home to settle into—that’s real. People who love you and care about you. You’ve had a phenomenal career, and I’m proud of you. But it’s time to stop basing your worth on championships and endorsement deals. You can’t buy happiness. You can’t earn it. God isn’t counting all the deals you’re racking up—and neither is your family.” He lifted his brow. “And neither is Lucy. For the first time someone’s looking at the person inside—and you have to decide if you’re going to let her in and be the man she needs you to be.” His father turned his head toward a family picture on the mantel. “It’s a risk. But one I’ve never regretted.”

“We know fun. Like two weekends ago we stayed up all night watching a documentary marathon on the brain.” She rolled her eyes toward Erin. “We’re positively wild.”