“Finding out how the rest of the world lives is a normal part of rumschpringe. I didn't think it was up to my father-or my bishop-to squash that kind of curiosity.”

“My father didn't tell me how to live;he lived, and let me watch him do it”

“I wondered what my father had looked like that day, how he had felt, marrying the lively and beautiful girl who was my mother. I wondered what his life was like now. Did he ever think of us? I wanted to hate him, but I couldn't; I didn't know him well enough. Instead, I wondered about him occasionally, with a confused kind of longing. There was a place inside me carved out for him; I didn't want it to be there, but it was. Once, at the hardware store, Brooks had shown me how to use a drill. I'd made a tiny hole that went deep. The place for my father was like that.”

“Our lives are part of a unique adventure... Nevertheless, most of us think the world is 'normal' and are constantly hunting for something abnormal--like angels or Martians. But that is just because we don't realize the world is a mystery. As for myself, I felt completely different. I saw the world as an amazing dream. I was hunting for some kind of explanation of how everything fit together.”

“When I treat other people with kindness and love, it is part of my way of paying my debt to God and the world for the privilege of living on this planet.”

“So what are you saying?” Keath asked, though it was clear he was dreading the answer.“I’m saying is that I don’t want to be a part of this. I want my life to stay the way it is, and that means I can’t be a friend of yours. I don’t want any part of the faerie world.”“That’s how normal people are supposed to react when they find out about all this,” Carlow said, looking pointedly at Kath and Katie, who just shrugged. They had never pretended to be normal.”