“She wanted none of those days to end, and it was always with disappointment that she watched the darkness stride forward. ”

“In life, you take strides forward, but you always take a few steps back. But in the end, if you take more steps forward than backward, you're making progress.”

“Now was too big, like a giant dark planet coming up over the horizon. she wanted then. That's what he'd seen that day, a brightness with darkness all around, watching her, as if she were glamorous, as if she were a rare and mysterious creature.”

“As sure as water's wet and days are long and a friend will always disappoint you in the end.”

“She walked quickly through the darkness with the frank stride of someone who was at least certain that the forest, on this damp and windy night, contained strange and terrible things and she was it.”

“Long, dark, and lovely she had been, in those days before her mind broke and the parts scattered and she let them go.”