“For there to be light, there must be darkness. For there to be joy, there must be sorrow. For there to be beauty, there must be the grotesque.”

“No, he wasn't like them at all. And even though my experience with the opposite sex was pitifully non-existent, this was someone I wanted to know. Someone I needed to know. Someone I needed to have know me.”

“I stood there, shocked. I'd never hugged a perfect stranger before, but maybe this was how people in California did things.”

“Of course, I'm only joking," he says, studying me. "The reason they're staring is because I am extraordinarily good looking.”

“Matt knew only that he must see her again, and forever.”

“... human beings interested her so much that it must always be an advantage to meet another one.”

“A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life, and as such it must surely be a necessary commodity.”