“Life, any life, is very short. But if you've managed to be happy for at least an instant, it will have been worth living.”

“Beware the seduction of the quick conclusion. Do not indulge in the answer you desire until you know all you need to know.”

“There are two types of understanding in this world. There's the kind that comes from the reading and the hearing, and it doesn't penetrate the skin. It is surface knowledge, like a soft blanket that can be placed over the shoulders. And then there's the understanding that comes from doing. That kind of understanding is not soft. It is water that soaks into the rocks and earth, and makes the seeds grow. It is messy, and painful, and impossible to hold.”

“People hide their truest nature. I understood that; I even applauded it. What sort of world would it be if people bled all over the sidewalks, if they wept under trees, smacked whomever they despised, kissed strangers, revealed themselves?”

“What is called family pride is often founded on the illusion of self-love. A man wishes to perpetuate and immortalize himself.”

“Loving someone was no guarantee of how they would treat you. All it did was raise the stakes.”

“Be content with who you are and where you are, and do whatever you can do to bring to others such contentment, and joy, and understanding that you have managed to find yourself.”

“I’d rather live in a world where I get to love the moon than in one where I don’t, even if the moon won’t return the feeling.”