“I don’t know what’s ahead,” I say. “I don’t know nothing about nothing but whatever it is, it’s gotta be better than what’s behind. It’s gotta be.”

“It’s been too hard living, but I’m afraid to die. ‘Cause I don’t know what’s up there, beyond the sky.”

“I’m just me – half a family, no awareness whatsoever about style, or what’s in and what’s out. I’m not like the lizards. I don’t really even know how I’m supposed to be with a guy that I’m attracted to. I’ve never been a game player. I don’t know how to be coy… or sexy… or whatever. I have no finesse.”

“Sometimes, you gotta start small to fix what’s broke. Even if it’s hard work, it’s worth each little step if it’s something you love.”

“I already know. And it has nothing to do with what you can see happening in my body; it’s what’s happening in my soul.”

“I have a tendency to want to understand everything people say and everything I hear, both at work and outside, even at a distance, even if it’s one of the innumerable languages I don’t know, even if it’s in an indistinguishable murmur or imperceptible whisper, even if it would be better that I didn’t understand and what’s said is not intended for my ears or is said precisely so I won’t understand it.”