“Sometimes just being still is the best thing you can do for yourself.”

“Since that night I have come to understand that sometimes the best families of all are those we create ourselves, the people we choose to be with.”

“I had always found comfort in the leaves, in their silence. They were like a parchment that holds words of wisdom. Simply holding them in my hand gave me some of the peace a tree possesses. To be like that-to just be-that's the most noble thing of all.”

“Strange, how such a small realization can affect everyone's life forever. In movies there is always a carefully staged moment - a big crescendo of music, close- ups of the actors' faces, the camera slowly pulling away to let all this sink in for the viewer...but, in real life, most all of the extraordinary things happen with no more loudness than a whisper.”

“Writing is a supernatural thing.”

“I appricated that Nell was talking to me like a grown-up, but I had no idea what she meant. Still, I could see that the words flowed together like water over a riverbed.”

“Whole scenes of your life slip away forever if you don't put them down in ink.”