“Life always seems to have worries, even if you own a big and beautiful house on the best street in town.”

“A great library doesn't have to be big or beautiful. It doesn't have to have the best facilities or the most efficient staff or the most users. A great library provides. It is enmeshed in the life of a community in a way that makes it indispensable. A great library is one nobody notices because it is always there, and always has what people need.”

“Not for the first time, I wonder what it would feel like that, to be so beautiful that you don't even realize people are watching you, to be so confident that you don't even have to worry about being nervous or feeling self-conscious. I've spent what seems like my whole life trying to pretend I'm that way. What would it be like to have it just come naturally?”

“Troubles always seemed more severe after the sun went down. Even irrational worries and fears could seem perfectly logical at midnight.”

“Irony has always seemed the best approach to life, the best way to keep it at arm's length.”

“it crossed Farren's mind that although death seemed big, life was even bigger”