“When you only do what is expected of you, you never learn what you would've done had you chosen for yourself.”

“Which one of them would make you the most sad if you had to live your life without him?”

“I smiled. "I just wish... I wish I didn't judge people by what they have or don't have. I wish I could see people for you they are on the inside before I come to any conclusions."My dad blinked slowly and then said... "Yes, that would be better than the other, but it still makes you their judge.”

“You shouldn't imagine things that you haven't a shred of proof happened...”

“Papa said marriage is not kept by affection but by a pledge. Affection does not beget the pledge; the pledge begets the affection. When you share a life and a home and a bed with someone, you become soul mates as surely as cream and effort produce butter....And so I began to imagine my life with James Luddy. I imagined being butter.”

“Dissecting a book was the same as making sense of life. You have to find a way to interpret life, or you'll go nuts.”

“Sometimes asking God for a reason for something is like asking Him why the sky is blue. There is a complex, scientific reason for it, Claire, but most children, including you, are content with knowing it is blue because it is. If we understood everything about everything, we would have no need for faith.”