“What do you mean Taurus? he frowns. I'm not a Taurus.You were born on the cusp, I remind him. Jason merely shrugs.Shows what you know, Scotty, I was born in Ohio.I can take him anywhere but out.”

“I'm speaking of the character of human beings, not what they believe in. I'm speaking of those who won't accept a useless life just because they were born to it. I mean those who would be something better. They work, they sacrifice, they do things..." He was moved by this, and I was a little surprised that I'd said it. Yet I felt I'd had hurt him somehow. "There is blessedness in that." I said. "There's sanctity. And God or no God, there is goodness in it. I know this the way I know the mountains are out there, that the stars shine.”

“You can have pride in what you do each day, but not arrogance in what you were born with.”

“What you can become is the miracle you were born to be through the work that you do.”

“ Alex moved closer to me, never taking his eyes from mine. “What if your eternity doesn’t start when you die?” he asked carefully. “What if your eternity has been going on since before you were born?”I stared at him with a blank face, wondering what drugs he was on. ”

“Now there are permanent gray smudges in Scotty's vision. He says he likes them--actually, what he says is: "I consider them a visual enhancement." We think they remind him of his mom.”