“I couldn't stop bawling, watching the towers come down. it was a terrible thing to happen. And a terrible thing to realize that I don't sit though the nigh crying when such horrors happen all the time.”

“...when I was fifteen, an extraordinary and terrible thing happened, and there was only Before and After.”

“Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid.”

“There is a kind of crying I hope you have not experienced, and it is not just crying about something terrible that has happened, but a crying for all of the terrible things that have happened, not just to you but to everyone you know and to everyone you don’t know and even the people you don’t want to know, a crying that cannot be diluted by a brave deed or a kind word, but only by someone holding you as your shoulders shake and your tears run down your face.”

“Yes, terrible things happen, but sometimes those terrible things- they save you.”

“I knew more things than I could tell, and I felt something terrible was going to happen in a short time.”