“everyone expected something from me. something i just couldn’t give.”

“we all fight our own private wars.”

“i had a rule that it was better to be bored by yourself than to be bored with someone else. i pretty much lived by that rule. maybe that's why i didn't have any friends.”

“scars. a sign that you had been hurt. a sign that you had healed.”

“to be careful with people and with words was a rare and beautiful thing.”

“the summer sun was not meant for boys like me. boys like me belonged to the rain.”

“i got to thinking that poems were like people. some people you got right off the bat. some people you just didn't get--and never would get.”

“another secret of the universe: sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. the clearest summer could end in a downpour. could end in lightning and thunder.”

“sometimes, you do things and you do them not because you're thinking but because you're feeling. because you're feeling too much. and you can't always control the things you do when you're feeling too much.”

“i was in love with the innocence of dogs, the purity of their affection. they didn't know enough to hide their feelings. they existed. a dog was a dog. there was such a simple elegance about being a dog that i envied.”