“Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy-ass weights.”

“In the front yard lives the oldest thing around, a white oakThat I used to say is my love for the world, That I now would just call love as it is.Belonging to nobody, no metaphor, the very.”

“What is it about her? he wondered hopelessly. What did she offer him that he couldn't find elsewhere? Why did he persist in seeking her out, thinking about her, wanting her, when she was exactly wrong for him in nearly every way?”

“Later when I thought of the chickens, one of those rare pale blue eggs rose up into my throat. The chickens had been part of our family, and the egg in my throat was the feeling of something missing. It was hard and smooth and heavy, but also so fragile it might break and make me cry. It was the feeling of growing out of a favorite shirt, milk spilled on the floor, the last bit of honey in the jar, falling apple blossoms. It was the lump in the throat behind everything beautiful in life.”

“Fate has a way of letting us know when we have screwed up by turning everything into an uphill battle.”

“You must have faith in yourself before you have faith in anyone else.”

“In the absence of evidence to the contrary, always assume you have the upper hand.”