“If you have to explain about how something's supposed to feel, it takes away all the magic.”

“You cannot go on 'explaining away' for ever: you will find that you have explained explanation itself away. You cannot go on 'seeing through' things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it.”

“Explaining something makes it go away, so to speak; what's important is left after you have explained everything else.”

“Knowing how to live is not something we have to teach children. Knowing how to live is something we have to be careful not to take away from them.”

“Dillon, all you have in this world, really, are your responses to it. Responses to your feelings and responses to what comes in from outside. You know how adults are always trying to get you to take responsibility? That's all responsibility is, responding to the world, owning your responses. It isn't about taking blame or finding out if something's your fault.”

“The person who knew you best when you were seventeen will always have a claim on you, no matter how much you change. There's something seductive and magnetic about it, the feeling of being understood like that. I suppose it goes both ways." (19)”