"I'm learning how to taste everything."

"Look at the stupid, poor people. Look at the stupid, poor, burned-out people. Look at the stupid, poor, burned-out people, look at their dead baby. It's death porn for the masses."

"Me: 'All right, but you said we had to put emotion into our art. I don't know what that means. I don't know what I'm supposed to feel."

"Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance."

"I have never heard a more eloquent silence."

"I hate winter. I've lived in Syracuse my whole life and I hate winter. It starts too early and ends too late. No one likes it."

"Until then we're going to keep making memories like this, moments when we're the only two people in the whole world. And when we get scared or lonely or confused, we'll pull out these memories and wrap them around us and they'll make us feel safe. And strong."

"Eating was hard.Breathing was hard. Living was hardest."

"It was hard to know how to play the game when the rules kept changing."

"IT happened. There is no avoiding it, no forgetting. No running away, or flying, or burying, or hiding."

"One had to be careful with elbows and boys."

"That can be the most painstaking aspect of being a teen, figuring out what the world really looks like. If you find someone in a book, you know you're not alone and that's what's so comforting about books."

"Gracie's father was an engineer, her mother an accountant. I couldn't picture either one of them yelling or throwing things or having affairs. I could see my dad doing stuff like that. Trish sure did. But Dad carried a war in his skull, and Trish was a drunk. Gracie's parents didn't have anything like that to deal with, but their daughter was falling apart on the bathroom floor."

"Killing people is easier than it should be. Dad put on his beret. 'Staying alive is harder."

"In one universe, they are gorgeous, straight-teethed, long-legged, wrapped in designer fashions, and given sports cars on their sixteenth birthdays. Teacher smile at them and grade them on the curve. They know the first names of the staff. They are the Pride of the Trojans. Oops " I mean Pride of the Blue Devils.In Universe #2, they throw parties wild enough to attract college students. They worship the stink of Eau de Jocque. They rent beach houses in CancAon during Spring Break and get group-rate abortions before prom."

"I watch the Eruptions. Mount Dad, long dormant, now considered armed and dangerous. Mount Saint Mom, oozing lava, spitting flame. Warn the villagers to run into the sea."

"I can see us, living in the woods, her wearing that A, me with a S maybe, S for silent, S for stupid, for scared. S for silly. For shame."

"Revision means throwing out the boring crap and making what's left sound natural."

"Write about the emotions you fear the most."

"I want to make a memorial for our turkey. Never has a bird been so tortured to provide such a lousy dinner."

"Emma is a mattress who got thrown off the truck when her parents split up. It's not like you can blame a mattress when people don't tie it down tight enough."

"No. Absolutely not. I forbid it. You'll have nightmares.' 'She was my friend! You must allow me. Why are you so horrid?' As soon as the angry words were out of my mouth, I knew I had gone too far. 'Matilda!' Mother rose from her chair. 'You are forbidden to pseak to me in that tone! Apologize at once."

"Gym should be illegal. It's humiliating."

"It doesn't hurt. Nothing hurts except the small smiles and blushes that flash across the room like tiny sparrows."

"Nicole can do anything that involves a ball and whistle."

"I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles."

"I want to go to sleep and not wake up, but I don't want to die."

"I have survived. I am here. Confused, screwed up, but here. So, how can I find my way? Is there a chain saw of the soul, an ax I can take to my memories or fears?"

"There is something about Christmas that requires a rug rat. Little kids make Christmas fun. I wonder if could rent one for the holidays. When I was tiny we would by a real tree and stay up late drinking hot chocolate and finding just the right place for the special decorations. It seems like my parents gave up the magic when I figured out the Santa lie. Maybe I shouldn't have told them I knew where the presents really came from. It broke their hearts."

"There is no magic cure, no making it all go away forever. There are only small steps upward; an easier day, an unexpected laugh, a mirror that doesn't matter anymore."

"The world is crazy. You need a license to drive a car and go fishing. You don't need a license to start a family. Two people have sex and BAM! Perfectly innocent kid is born whose life will be screwed up by her parents forever."

"Mr. Freeman: You are getting better at this, but it's not good enough. This looks like a tree,but it is an average, ordinary, everyday, boring tree. Breathe life into it. Make it bend - trees are flexible, so they don't snap. Scar it, give it a twisted branch - perfect trees don't exist. Nothing is perfect. Flaws are interesting. Be the tree."

"Could he hear my heart pounding?"

"Why are you being so mean?'Friends tell friends the truth.'Yeah, but not to hurt. To help."

"It had been a good day, all things considered. I had managed rather well on my own. I opened Grandfather's Bible. This is what it would be like when I had my own shop, or when I traveled abroad. I would always read before sleeping. One day, I'd be so rich I would have a library full of novel to choose from. But I would always end the evening with a Bible passage."

"The trick to surviving an interrogation is patience. Don't offer up anything. Don't explain. Answer the question and only the question that is asked so you don't accidentally put your head in a noose."

"I breathe in slowly. Food is life. I exhale, take another breath. Food is life. And that's the problem. When you're alive, people can hurt you. It's easier to crawl into a bone cage or a snowdrift of confusion. It's easier to lock everybody out. But it's a lie."

"It's easier to floss with barbed wire than admit you like someone in middle school."

"I looked in the mirror and realized that I was already dead. I let you kill me one piece at a time, starting when I was, what? Eight years old? Nine? You killed yourself and then you came after us."

"It doesn't matter where I go, I don't want to be there. And then I get to the next place, and I don't want to be there either."

"I am an owl, bird of the night. I see everything. I know everything."

"Slush is frozen over. People say that winter lasts forever, but it's because they obsess over the thermometer. North in the mountains, the maple syrup is trickling. Brave geese punch through the thin ice left on the lake. Underground, pale seeds roll over in their sleep. Starting to get restless. Starting to dream green."

"Too much sun after a Syracuse winter does strange things to your head, makes you feel strong, even if you aren't."

"Homework is not an option. My bed is sending out serious nap rays. I can't help myself. The fluffy pillows and warm comforter are more powerful than I am. I have no choice but to snuggle under the covers."

"I won't take a real nap. I have this halfway place, a rest stop on the road to sleep, where I can stay for hours. I don't even need to close my eyes, just stay safe under the covers and breathe."

"Grandma frowned and yelled something in Russian. She could have been saying, 'Open up, your best friend is here.' On the other hand, it could have been, 'America is a great country because of canned ravioli."

"Mr. Freeman sighs. 'No imagination. What are you thirteen? Fourteen? You've already let them beat your creativity out of you!"

"In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves."

"I wanted to pull down a book, open it proper, and gobble up page after page."

"I drift into the armpits of strangers, tasting their manic salt, and sleep to forget everything."