“Marriages don't stay in neat, tidy shapes you know; they sprawl about, very messily sometimes. The important thing is not to let them get out of control.”

“It's easier to stay in shape if you never let yourself get out of shape in the first place.”

“Sometimes things are so insanely private, you don't even want to talk about them with yourself. Don't talk about them, don't wrestle with them, don't let them run you over. Let it be.”

“Soli, let me tell you. The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don't know.”

“Find the story, Granny Weatherwax always said. She believed that the world was full of story shapes. If you let them, they controlled you. But if you studied them, if you found out about them... you could use them, you could change them.”

“Sometimes when your life seems most out of control, you know there's a direction. I don't mean you can't have free will--in fact, that can be the most important part.”