“Sarcasm is a suit of armor.”

“If you want your prayers answered, get up off your knees and do something about them.”

“All the dead bolts, pulled shades and hidden knives in the world couldn't protect you from the truth.”

“God, that’s always the thing you have to decide with high school kids: what to make an issue of, what to let go.”

“Zinnia always wants to hug me and pat me because she has a boy my same age named Melvin. I said maybe some day Melvin could come play at our farm, and I could bring him to the maze and show him the shortcuts. Zinnia started crying. That’s when I seen that she has freckles.”

“You're just catching me during one of my fallow periods, that's all. One of my compost years. I'm expecting a creative leap pretty soon now.”

“Being in your mid-thirties brought benefits, I reminded myself. You began to appreciate tidiness, smallness, things in their place. This is the shape your life has taken, I said. Be existential. Go to sleep.”