“Alongside the practical thought something else struggled and, like an escaped butterfly, took wing: the assurance of something wonderful awaiting her. Just around the corner......”

“We are all future butterflies who think, wrongly, that we are just slugs. And we are evolving, whether we admit it or not, into something else. Something with wings.”

“When you are struggling with something, look around at everyone else and realize that every single person you see is struggling with something, and to them, it's just as hard as what you're going through. We are all struggling.”

“She will want things to stay just as they are. She will never have the fun of hoping something wonderful and exiting may be just around the corner.”

“I would have liked to catch hold of sleep at least once, just as I had been resolved to catch hold of death one day, to catch hold of the wings of the angel of sleep when it came for me, to grab it with two fingers like a butterfly after sneaking up on it from behind. [...] My sleep game was practice for the grand struggle with death.”

“He took a few steps before responding. "You are special," he finally said, and the way e said it made her wonder if he wanted to add something else.”