“..hard to trust that after so much had been taken, so much could still be received.”

“So much paperwork to read! So much paperwork to push away! So much paperwork to pretend he hadn't received and that might have been eaten by gargoyles.”

“It was hard to trust in happiness, coming from another person, but . . . there was so much of it, around him.”

“After a week, it's better. I miss her. I mourn her. But some peace has returned. She had been so unattainable - so young, so much a citizen of a different era - that it is hard to feel fully deprived.”

“I enjoy life so much more now, and I try hard to appreciate each and every day, but deep down I am still afraid it will be taken away.”

“He had been through so much, and had grown so discouraged, so sad, so disgusted with himself, that he could understand... It was the worst thing in the world to lose faith with oneself.”