“To feed your Muse, then, you should always have been hungry about life since you were a child. If not, it is a little late to start.”

“It is always good for young people to be put upon exerting themselves; and you know, my dear Catherine, you always were a sad little shatter-brained creature; but now you have been forced to have your wits about you...”

“I've been the oldest child since before you were born”

“You were born a child of light’s wonderful secret— you return to the beauty you have always been.”

“Do not make your child your only hobby or you will end up waiting by the telephone in a cheery room covered in brittle, yellowed crayon drawings, regaling those few friends that are left with stale anecdotes about your youngster's accomplishments. Your little baby will be off in college, or backpacking in the Amazon, or on the other side of the country trying to get as far away from home as possible, and you will begin collecting porcelain frogs and feeding stray cats. So now is the time to start getting that life to fall back on. You know what you must do. Do it for your child. Do it for me, and for everyone out there who has to deal with your child for the rest of your child's life. And do it for yourself.”

“You should never start thinking about 'what might have been,' and you should also never start thinking about another boy when you're heartbroken over someone else.”