“Never before had I recognized the ring of majesty that was in Billy Black's voice, though I realized now that this authority had always been there.”

“I recognized him then; that is, I finally comprehended what I had known but had never been able to formulate: he had always been complete. He had finished the work of becoming himself, long before any of us could even imagine such a feat was possible. ”

“Now she realized she had never been kissed before. Not really. Not like this.Ah, never like this.”

“I was a rule-follower. I obeyed all forms of authority. I had never before encountered a situation where the authority was clearly wrong and I had to stand up for what was right.”

“I kept staring into the blackness of the woods, drawn into the darkness as I always had been. I suddenly realized how alone I was. (But this is how you travel, the wind whispered back, this is how you've always lived.)”

“Bennifer was so big it was as though two people had never been in love before, and they had discovered it.”