“What once hurt, eventually helped me to heal.”
“In a crowd, it's always easy to disappear.”
“We live many lives, Jane, but very rarely do we ever come across the same soul twice.”
“Everyone has connections. For some it's family, like my brother and I. For some it's friendship, like you and Wes. And for others, it's something much more powerful, something yet to be seen.”
“The only boys I ever saw here had glasses thick enough to be considered bullet proof and GPA's fit for Harvard.”
“I know your hormones are raging right now, but that does not justify bumping off the creepy new kids in school!”
“I looked in the mirror and stared at my reflection, until I was in the head-clearing trance that comes when you stare at something for a long time.”
“There are kinds of action, for good or ill, that lie so far outside the boundaries of normal behavior that they force us, in acknowledging that they have occurred, to restructure our own understanding of reality. We have to make room for them.”
“When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five, I was just alive.
But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.”
“They keep telling you, when you’re older, you’ll have experience—and that’s supposed to be so great. What would you say about that, sir? Is it really any use, would you say?"
"What kind of experience?”
“Well—places you’ve been to, people you’ve met. Situations you’ve been through already, so you know how to handle them when they come up again. All that stuff that’s supposed to make you wise, in your later years.”
“Let me tell you something, Kenny. For other people, I can’t speak—but, personally, I haven’t gotten wise on anything. Certainly, I’ve been through this and that; and when it happens again, I say to myself, Here it is again. But that doesn’t seem to help me. In my opinion, I, personally, have gotten steadily sillier and sillier and sillier—and that’s a fact.”
“No kidding, sir? You can’t mean that! You mean, sillier than when you were young?”
“Much, much sillier.”
“I’ll be darned. Then experience is no use at all? You’re saying it might just as well not have happened?”
“No. I’m not saying that. I only mean, you can’t use it. But if you don’t try to—if you just realize it’s there and you’ve got it—then it can be kind of marvelous.”
“Probably not. I like to do things on my own." "Yes. I am well aware of your rather obsessive independence." Oh, good. Obsessive? "I'm not obsessive about it. I just find it easier to do things for myself, rather than be disappointed when..." "Disappointed when you are let down, and/or betrayed? Am I right?" "You know you're right. Please... please don't play games with me," I beg. I don't like this at all. "Oh, Sweetheart... I'm not playing games with you. I'm listening to what you do and don’t say and repeating it back to you. I want you to hear all I hear. I want you to see all I see. Remember, I'm just learning you, but you have known yourself always. Therefore, I am a fresh perspective to all you know, say, and feel. Do you understand what I'm trying to give to you?" "I know when you give back to me my own words; I don't like to hear them. I sound pathetic. I sound like a loser. I never thought I was a loser, until all of this and I hate it. I hate the way you see me. I'm embarrassed that I'm essentially, completely transparent. I don't like this game, anymore." I feel so sad suddenly.”
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