“Leadership, he was discovering, had its ups and downs—kind of like the bowsprit on a swelling sea.”

“...it would be nice if something I wanted came to me, on its own. I'm tired of chasing the things I'm supposed to want.”

“Let the wealth of remembrances past be the link of friendship treasured.”

“It has been said that a friend is somebody with whom it is possible to be silent.”

“She thought she was a sensible girl. But some kind of love had taken hold of her and refused to let her go, and it wasn't a happy, easy, joyful thing, it had her in a vice-like grip.”

“Laura's problem was that she kept casting men in roles they weren't suited for. Like lovely Josh, casting him in the role of decent, kind house-husband, the perfect partner, the modern male, when - what was it that she'd actually loved about him, really? Laura tried to think, and couldn't come up with an answer. He was a great man - kind, funny, clever, hard working - but there was no way he was the man for her, she realised now. Why hadn't she seen it?”

“He was swimming in a sea of other people’s expectations. Men had drowned in seas like that.”