“Life is full of surprises, so you may as well get used to it.”

“Words are such fun!”

“Having words opened up a world of possibilities for Martha.”

“Whatever else you may need to get clarity, you must start with open eyes.”

“Graduations are full of joy and celebration, but they are also full of broken hearts. It is one of those days when you miss the people you love so much it hurts, when imperfect families and dashed dreams weigh so heavily that you begin to think that everyone else is sitting on top of the world but you.”

“All her life she'd listened to talk, life was full of talk. People said things, true and interesting things and ridiculous things. Her father used to say they talked too much. There was much to say, she had said her share. How else was one to know a thing except by naming it? But words now fell so far from where life was. Words fell on a distant shore. It turned out there were other tracks on which life registered where things weren't acknowledged with words or given attention to or commented on.”

“One cannot use the life to interpret the work. But One can use the work to interpret the life.”