“Sometimeswhen you are trying not to think about somethingit keeps popping back in your headyou can't help ityou think about itand think about itand think about ituntil your brainfeels likea squashed pea.”

“I started thinking about life insurance and how nice it would be if you could get insurance that your life would be happy, and that everyone you knew could be happy, and they could all do what they really wanted to do, and they could all find the people they wanted to find.”

“My granny Torrelli says when you are angry with someone, so angry you are thinking hateful things, so angry maybe you want to punch them, then you should think of the good things about them, and the nice things they've said, and why you liked them in the first place.”

“Being a mother is like trying to hold a wolf by the ears,” Gram said. “If you have three or four –or more – chickabiddies, you’re dancing on a hot griddle all the time. You don’t have time to think about anything else. And if you’ve only got one or two, it’s almost harder. You have room left over – empty spaces that you think you’ve got to fill up.”

“You can't keep the birds of sadness from flying over your head, but you can keep them from nesting in your hair.”

“Joe, my guardian and a man of few words, once said about Lizzie, “That girl could talk the ears off a cornfield.”

“And what did I think when I was small and why did I forget? And what else will I forget when I grow older? And if you forget is it as if it never happened? Will none of the things you saw or thought or dreamed matter?”