(James Frey)

• I want to run or die or get fucked up. I want to be blind and dumb and have no heart. I want to crawl in a hole and never come out. I want to wipe my existence straight off the map. Straight off the fucking map. (pg. 6)
• I can feel the weight of my life beginning to drop and I realize why dawn is called mourning. (pg. 20)
• She was standing right in front of me. Right in front of me. Tall and thin, long blond hair like thick ropes of silk, eyes cut from the Arctic. (pg. 60)
• My heart was still pounding and my hands were still shaking and for the first time in my life it wasn't because of alcohol or drugs and for the first time in my life alcohol and drugs wouldn't make it go away. (pg. 60)
• I turn and I slowly walk away and I don't look back. It has always been a fault of mine, but it is the way I am. I never look back. Never. (pg. 73)
• I took a lot of punches for that bullshit, and every time I threw a punch back, and I threw one back every single time, I threw it back for her. I threw it back as hard as I fucking could and I threw it back for her. (pg. 81-82)
• There is truth in his eyes. Truth is all that matters. (pg. 108)
• Humans are said to seek only food, shelter and sex. Humans are said to have only these as their primary urges. I have lived in a state where I went without all, sought none. I do not know what this makes me. (pg. 120)
• Open mind, empty mind. (pg. 165)
• I can feel her heart beating and I know she can feel my heart beating and they are speaking our hearts are speaking a language wordless old unknowable and true. (pg. 173)
• Tell me why you stare.
  • I took a deep breath.
  • The first time I saw you, my heart fell. The second time I saw you, my heart fell. The third time fourth time fifth time and every time since, my heart has fallen.
  • I stared at her.
  • You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Your hair, your eyes, your lips, your body that you haven't grown into, the way you walk, smile, laugh, the way your cheeks drop when you're mad or upset, the way you drag your feet when you're tired. Every single thing about you is beautiful.
  • I stared at her.
  • When I see you the world stops. It stops and all that exists for me is you and my eyes staring at you. There's nothing else. No noise, no other people, no thoughts or worries, no yesterday, no tomorrow. The world just stops, and it is a beautiful place, and there is only you. Just you, and my eyes staring at you.
  • I stared.
  • When you're gone, the world starts again, and I don't like it as much. I can live in it, but I don't like it. I just walk around in it and wait to see you again and wait for it to stop again. I love it when it stops. It's the best fucking thing I've ever known or ever felt, the best thing, and that, beautiful girl, is why I stare at you.
  • We were standing a foot apart, staring at each other, Arctic and pale, locked and loaded. The world had stopped and there was nothing else. Just me and her, Arctic and pale, locked and loaded.
  • She smiled. (pg. 186-187)
• I turned and I walked away and my legs were shaking like jelly with each step down the stairs. I knew she was watching me walk away and waiting for me to turn back for another smile and I would've liked another smile I would've liked the world to stop and she was waiting for it, but I didn't turn around. I kept going, an image in my mind, Arctic and pale, locked and loaded, beautiful magnificent mysterious and wonderful. It was in my mind. I knew it wasn't going anywhere. (pg. 187)
• I like the mist and I want to take it in and let it become me. I want to drink it and be full. I want to swallow it and let it make me. Make me how I should be made mist. Make me what I should be made. (pg. 188)
• I think God is something that people use to avoid reality. I think faith allows People to reject what is right in front of our eyes, which is that this thing, this life, this existence, this consciousness, or whatever word you want to use for it, is all we have, and all we'll ever have. I think People have faith because they want and need to believe in something, whatever that something is, because life can be hard and depressing and brutal if you don't. (pg. 224)
• Are we biology or God or something Higher. I know my heart beats and I listen to it. the beat is biology, but what is the song. Will this song exist when the beating stops. Will one stay when one is gone, can one live without the other. Does it matter. It does. I have to believe in something. It is holding me together. (pg. 229-230)
• God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. (pg. 260)
• The one word love means too little for what it is. It means everything and that is still not enough. It doesn't communicate even a fraction of the feelings involved. Love. The word is not enough for what it is. Love. Love. (pg. 316)
• Sometimes skulls are thick. Sometimes hearts are vacant. Sometimes words don't work. (pg. 323)
• If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be filled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy. Be content with what you have and take joy in the way things are. When you realize you have all you need, the World belongs to you. (pg. 370)
• What is rooted will grow. What is recent can be fixed. What is brittle will break. Prevent trouble before it finds you, put things in order before they exist. The giant tree grows from a single seed. The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. If you rush, you'll fail. Hold on to things too tight and you'll lose them. Take action by letting action come to you. Remain as calm at the start as at the finish. If you have nothing, you have nothing to lose. Desire to not desire, learn to unlearn. Care for nothing and you will care for everything. (pg. 414)
• If you want to be whole, you must first be partial. If you want to be straight, you must first be crooked. If you want to be full, first become empty. If you want to be reborn, you must first die. (pg. 414)