“If love was the result of having caught a glimpse of another's loneliness, then he had loved Mikal since they were ten years old.... This almost-brother. This blood-love in everything but name.”

“I love you, Em. I've loved you since I was eight years old, and I'll love you my whole life.”

“But it was alright, everything was alright, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”

“At my core, there is nothing. Neither is it parched wastelands. At my core, there is love. I'll go on loving that ten-year-old boy named Tengo forever --- his strength, his intelligence, his kindness. He does not exist here, with me, but flesh that does not exist will never die, and promises unmade are never broken.”

“He did not consider if or how or why he loved them. They were just love: they were the first evidence he ever had of love, and they would be the last confirmation of love when everything else fell away.”

“Liar. You've loved me since I held your hand at your mother's memorial service when you were five years old.”