“I feared my own kind more than anything the natural world could ever threaten me with.”

“I was not much afraid of punishment, I was only afraid of disgrace.But that I feared more than death, more than crime, more than anything in the world. I should have rejoiced if the earth had swallowed me up and stifled me in the abyss. But my invincible sense of shame prevailed over everything . It was my shame that made me impudent, and the more wickedly I behaved the bolder my fear of confession made me. I saw nothing but the horror of being found out, of being publicly proclaimed, to my face, as a thief, as a liar, and slanderer.”

“I held her close to me with my eyes closed, wonering if anything in my life had ever been this perfect and knowing at the same time that it hadn't. I was in love, and the feeling was even more wonderful than I ever imagined it could be.”

“Reality is more frightening than anything that I could ever hope to write!”

“...the laws of nature have continually all my life offended me more than anything.”

“We are forever, right?" Melissa Said. "Absolutely forever. There is nothing that could ever take me away from you," I said with more certainty than I'd said anything in my life.”