“But had I not cut the cord? and now was I seeing what happens when there is no gravity. There is indeed nothing, nothing; you are just falling. My father had said once (or was it you?) that the only emotions worth having are ecstasy and despair. I thought - Well yes, but there is also a terror at this nothing.”

“What if the need to have a hard time is built into human nature?”

“The conceit of literary intellectuals is to imagine that other people don't have ideas so that they can assume a superior status by having their own...”

“The great man say that life is pain," Coydog had said over eighty-five years before. "That mean if you love life, then you love the hurt come along wit' it. Now, if that ain't the blues, I don't know what is.”

“He almost shouted, "What? You knew it all along?"She smiled & said,"That was why I left the front door ajar, so that you could follow me in. You wanted to see me naked & I decided to let you. You see, at that time, I was as much in love with you as you were in love with me. And I decided to show you everything, to leave nothing to your imagination, because that was what you wanted & what I also wanted."[MMT]”

“It is very difficult to love people who are good to us: it is easier to imagine we are loving people we can condescend to.”

“I'd love to, she finally said,"on one condition."I steadied myself, hoping it wasn't something too awful."Yes?""You have to promise that you won't fall in love with me."I knew she was kidding me by the way she laughed, and I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.Sometimes, I had to admit, Jamie had a pretty good sense of humor.I smiled and gave her my word.”