“Life is a gift. If we don't live it well, we are being ungrateful. And we have to love the ones who journey with us." (A Nail Through the Heart)”

“She gave me the slow nod women use to indicate that they understand our pain, they admire the courage with which we handle it, and they're absolutely certain that it's all our fault.”

“I let one of the men rename me. A man gave me the name Rose – you didn’t know that, did you, Poke?…He said, this man, he said that Kwan was too hard to remember, even though it’s a good name and it means ‘spirit,’ and that the rose was the queen of flowers and I was the queen of Patpong.” She laughs, rough as a cough. “The queen of Patpong. A kingdom of whores and viruses. Death with a smile.”

“The chuckle is a perfectly acceptable form of laughter.”

“We all have to leave this world and we don't know when, so make sure you try and live life...now and then!”

“Success is being blessed to get to do what we truly love best in our life and getting paid quite well to do it.”

“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”