“Maybe it explains the reason why one person likes another. It's because their souls both thrum at the same frequency.”

“Why are we inspired by another person's courage? Maybe because it gives us the sweet and genuine surprise of discovering some trace, at least, of the same courage in ourselves.”

“Hope like that, as I thought before, doesn’t make you a weak person. It’s hopelessness that makes you weak. Hope makes you stronger, because it brings with it a sense of reason. Not a reason for how or why they were taken from you, but a reason for you to live. Because it’s a maybe. A ‘maybe someday things won’t always be this shit.’ And that ‘maybe’ immediately makes the shittiness better.”

“Hope makes you stronger, because it brings with it a sense of reason. Not a reason of how or why they were taken away from you, but a reason to live. Because it's a maybe. A 'maybe someday things won't always be this shit. And that 'maybe' immediately makes the shittiness better.”

“The swallow's wings popped open, but they flapped awkwardly at the sides of its body like wild oars. And then, as the bird fell with skittering wings, it gave one solid thrum. This slowed its descent, momentarily. It gave another thrum, and another, and then, as if its body remembered what it was supposed to do, the bird began to beat its wings rhythmically. The muscle memory was still within it. It was still losing ground, but it was flapping at least.”

“No one knows why we hate Hattie. Maybe it's her wool skirts and kneesocks. Maybe it's because she's the last to develop. Maybe it's because she makes A's. Maybe it's because if we hate her, no one will hate us.”