“When your own father never, ever laughs at you, not even when your little twisted movements are unbearably cute, when there's never a little hidden snicker at the edge of his lips after you risk a question that exposes the very marrow of your soul, then perhaps certain spiritual muscles within you are given a chance to develop, and sometimes to a point where no one can overpower them.”

“You never know when it will be the last time you'll see your father, or kiss your wife, or play with your little brother, but there's always a last time. If you could remember every last time, you'd never stop grieving.”

“And remember, sometimes our dreams appear where and when we least expect it. Sometimes, just sometimes, you can even find them waiting in your own bed when you open your eyes. (Esther)”

“Reading words puts them in your mind. You never forget. Even when you don't get a chance to dwell on the music, you can hear it in your head.”

“A book is never, ever finished. You simply get to a point where you and your editor are reasonably happy with how it is and you go with that. Left to our own devices, a writer would endlessly fiddle with a book, changing little thing after little thing.”

“Wanting to become a better person is just the beginning of your journey. You must become enlightened to feel the pain and suffering of others. When the pain of others become unbearable in your own soul it will cause a spiritual change within you. It is through this change within you that will begin to help better change the world.”