(James Frey)

• They had dreams but they called them dreams because they were unrelated to reality, they were a distant unknown, an impossibility, they would never come true. (pg. 2)
• That's how life works. You know it when you know it. (pg. 7)
• Beyond Malibu, the PCH thins to four lanes to two lanes there are fewer houses more trees less people bigger waves the curves more extreme the bluffs become mountains and aside from the concrete of the road, the land is as it has been since the dawn of the world blue hitting beige fading into sloping green broken large gray stone crags. For thirty miles it continues north each turn each slope each beach can take your breath away, make you question man god society your life your existence, it's so beautiful it takes your breath, your breath, it's so beautiful it can take your heart. (pg. 151)
• But all good things come to an end, often a sad angry miserable end. The cause for such an end can usually be whittled down to one of three things: money, sickness, love lost. (pg. 309)
• Artists have always had an uncomfortable relationship with money. They need it, but are often repulsed by those who have it. For as long as there has been money, and art, and people willing to spend money on art, communities initially set up by artists have been overrun with people with money who want a taste of the artist's lifestyle, despite the fact that the reality of the lifestyle is far harder, lonelier, and more boring than can be imagined. (pg. 309)
• We fell in love. We pursued that love sexually and emotionally. I don't think he's as comfortable or as open with his sexuality as I am with mine, so he ended the relationship. It was a beautiful thing, like the most perfect healthy colorful blooming flower, while it lasted, it was like a flower from heaven. Now it's like a bomb went off in my heart. I'll probably never be the same. (pg. 345)
• People saying they know the answers don't know shit 'cause there is no answer. Life just is what it is and you can try to change it or you can just let it be, but there ain't no why, there just is, there's just life. (pg. 492)