“Life was messy. Always had been and always would be and that was just the way it was, so why bother complaining? You either did something about it or you didn’t, and then you lived with the choice you made.”

“You could have told me earlier.”“You seemed so serious about the game. I didn’t want to bother you.”

“You always have a choice. It's just that some people make the wrong one.”

“And when I came in with tears in my eyes, you always knew whether I needed you to hold me or just let me be. I don't know how you knew, but you did, and you made it easier for me.”

“If you discovered something that made you tighten inside, you had better try to learn more about it.”

“Because it protects you. And when I jumped from the Humvee, I believed it would save me, too, in the same way you believe it will always save you.” “No, I don’t,” Thibault began.“Then why, my friend, do you still carry it with you?”

“We get a lot of the sky is falling on the weather reports, so when something big does hit, people never expect it. If it's not as bad as the reports predicted, we complain. If it's worse than expected, we complain. If it's just as bad as predicted, we complain about that, too, because we'll say that the reports are wrong so often, there was no way to know they'd be right this time. It just gives people something to complain about.”