“Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.”

“All four of us were young and undaunted and our smiles were so strong that it made me smile even then on the couch, with a kind of loss.”

“I'm twenty years old and look at me-- there isn't a thing I want to do”

“If you can't imagine it, think clumsy silence. Think bits and pieces of floating despair. And drowning in a train.”

“His eyes did not do anything that shock normally describes. No snapping, no slapping, no jolt. Those things happen when you wake from a bad dream, not when you wake into one.”

“People observe the colours of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colours.”

“Warily, she dares to allow me a smile. "It's okay. It's just...I'm not too good at talking to people." She looks away again as her shyness smothers her. "So, do you think it'd be all right if we don't talk?”