“Just because someone tried to make you into a victim didn’t mean that’s what you had to be.”

“You cannot continue to victimize someone else just because you yourself were a victim once—there has to be a limit”

“When someone is mean to me, I just make them a victim in my next book.”

“That’s what death did, it treated you like a child, like everything you had ever thought and done and cared about was just a child’s game, to be crumpled up and thrown away when it was over. It didn’t matter. Death didn’t respect you. Death thought you were bullshit, and it wanted to make sure you knew it.”

“I want you to understand something. War makes perpetrators of some, criminals of others, and victims of everyone. Just because a soldier is in the battle, doesn't mean that he believes in the war.”

“Remember I told you I’ve taken a vow of chastity. You understand what that means, right?Yeah,” he said. “You’re very generous. I think that’s cool.”I didn’t quite get his answer, but I didn’t want to prolong the conversation. [...]That’s when it dawned on me what Greg had meant. [...] Um, that’s charity, Greg, not chastity.He is so not the right guy for me.(137-138)”