“I like things to be clearly defined. Trouble brews when the lines are blurred. When people don't know where they stand.”

“She was an original ... She was an eccentric. She'd come alive like a fire, telling funny stories and entertaining everyone, then she'd suddenly run out of fuel, make her excuses and leave. You always knew when she'd had enough. Those that didn't would find themselves talk to the walls.”

“I expect you to get up in the morning, the rest is a surprise!”

“Maar het hart kan nooit vergeten en wonden kunnen nooit echt helemaal genezen.”

“You bite the bullet and get on with it. One can't expect to be happy all the time ... You expect to be happy, as if it's a right. It's not a right. It's a bonus. The cherry on the cake.”

“Loving isn't about selecting only the good parts. It's about taking the whole and loving the lot.”

“But to her, libraries were like hotels: secret villages inhabited by passing strangers from a thousand different worlds brought together just for a few hours.”