“I'm getting chest pains...You give me chest pains Uncle Willie.It's my fault you get excited.Yes, it's your fault! I only get chest pains on Wednesdays.So come on Tuesdays.”

“If you can go through life without experiencing pain you probably haven't been born yet.”

“You're a witness. You're always standing around watching what's happening, scribbling in your book what other people do. You have to get in the middle of it. You have to take sides. Make a contribution to the fight. Any fight. The one you believe in. Until you do, you'll never be a writer, Eugene.”

“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up.”

“Being with her I feel a pain, like a frozen knife stuck in my chest. An awful pain, but the funny thing is I'm thankful for it. It's like that frozen pain and my very existence are one.The pain is an anchor, mooring me here.”

“She couldn't breath around the pain in her chest. "Tell me I'm the only one.”

“You play your cards so close to your chest," said Shadow, "that I'm not even sure they're really cards at all.”