“It still amazes him how they could have been misled by her personality in Year Eleven. It's what depression does to a person, it changes them completely.”

“How can you just forget a person completely until the moment you see his face again?”

“Is a person worth more because they have someone to grieve for them?”

“When it was over, she gathered him in her arms. And told him the terrible irony of her life.That she had wanted to be dead all those years while her brother had been alive. That had been her sin.And this was her penance.Wanting to live when everyone else seemed dead.”

“It's like you have a plan and someone comes along and makes you want to change it all, but you still like your first plan, no matter how fantastic the second one makes you feel.”

“Ned?' he says, after a while. 'Oi, Ned?''What?''If someone says to you that the guy they're going out with doesn't have to prove how smart he is, what's your response?''That he's dumb.''And if he has a sixpack?''Dumb jock.''Not too intense.''Dumb jock with no personality.''And they see eye to eye?'Ned pauses. 'With the spitfire from Dili?''Same,' Tom corrects.Ned holds up a hand to where Tara would reach him in height.'Dumb jock with no personality and short-man syndrome.''Thanks, Ned.''Anytime.”

“If something happened to me, whose face will be on the front page of the paper begging for me? Is a person worth more because they have someone to grieve for them?”