The butterflies have flown away, like my ignorance and youth.

It seemed everyone knew their place in it, but I was in the mood where I would rather be alone and look a houseplants.

I didn’t want to get burned. I didn’t want to be the other woman, but I wanted him with all my might.

Life was like that when you were fifteen and knobby-kneed and you only had a handful of choices. Your world was small and cruel and narrow-minded and breathtaking.

Hush now, ‘tis time to sleep and dream secrets of long ago.

In the end, every person’s life is a tough act to follow.

Where should I go?” -Alice. “That depends on where you want to end up.” – The Cheshire Cat.

I tried to push my body through his and completely disappear.

It’s okay to be happy.

It’s not easy to be God.

Belonging to a place isn’t nearly as necessary as belonging to people you love and who love you and need you.

I’m not very good at being alive. Sometimes I despair of ever mastering it, getting it right. When I’m old, perhaps.

I could only defend myself so much. It was my word against his. There was no evidence, nor was there any proof. My word meant very little.

Mama and I sat on a burping bus full of chickens in cages, and round-eyed babies on round mothers’ laps. (The Pinata-Maker’s Daughter)

Sitting in the wicker rocking chair with her interrupted work in her lap, Amaranta watched Aureliano José, his chin covered with foam, stropping his razor to give himself his first shave. His blackheads bled and...

It was the kind of summer evening that made Ursula want to be alone. ‘Oh,’ Izzie said, ‘You’re at an age when a girl is simply consumed by the sublime.’ Ursula wasn’t sure what she...

I fantasize the night sky to be like a cosmic blue print of my life as I close my eyes and unbutton my heart…. just in case anyone up there is listening.

I kept waiting for the part where I’d finally know who I was — some flashing, neon moment of relief, but it never came.

It seems like our town has closed down these days leading up to the funeral. Old people still sit on their porches and talk, but their conversations aren’t sprinkled with laughter anymore. Since the new,...

You’ll get fired if anyone finds out about us!””So many rules in this century,” Vane muttered.

So what did it matter where she came from? Who-or what-her parents were? Everyone’s family was messed up in some way including my own. And she was still the same Ariane.” – Zane, page 400

Is it possible that that’s all maturity is? Speaking better? Is it possible that everybody in the world, is just a dumb, stupid kid acting like a grown-up because they can sound like one and...

When you’re finally a grown-up, one of the things you find is that there are no grown-ups.

Wow, you are super drunk.

How stupid that all I have to dois grow two squishy lumps and suddenlyI’m man’s best friend

She smoothes the front of the dress, looking down at her hands, at her bitten fingernails, at her big feet in the pointy-toes shoes. This is a woman’s dress, she thinks, a young woman’s dress....

If ever I was running, it was towards you.

I lost my innocence very young and it had nothing to do with sex.

You are meant to be, despite how you got here; you’ll see someday.

He ever offer to walk you home?””I’ve never asked,” Cath said quickly. “I’ve never asked you either.””That’s true,” Levi said.More quiet. More cold.The air stung Cath’s throat when she finally spoke again. “So maybe you...

The most important thing is to be whatever you are without shame.

Somehow, we both got carried away. I don’t know exactly how it happened, but before long, I knew nothing was ever going to be the same.

I’m too old to be ignorant as I am.” –Twelve-year-old Gabriella to the general, who does not want her to know about Emmett Till and the world’s brutality.

Last night I dreamt Moses and I were rowing underwater.We could breathe and talk to one another.We rowed past schools of fish and sea anemones and Moses named them for me.”—Jules Finn

I learned that adults were not soaring gods, but rather back-yard birds with broken wingtips.When you are thirteen, about to free-fall into the real world, discovering the broken wingtips is terrifying.

Marika could feel herself cocking the trigger of a loaded gun and pointing it at herself, because the truth could be too shocking a revelation, something that would shake their lives to the core… but...

The Fall will always be yours and mine…

I was not a believer in instalove. So said the rational part of my brain.

Stand still while I yell at you.

His smile is beautiful. It’s the kind of smile that can take away all nervousness and tension in a room, no matter how big. I have no choice but to smile back.

It’s in a can. It’s good forever.

[…] He plays the guitar so well, you wouldn’t believe it. But he doesn’t have a band. And he doesn’t try really hard to get one. He mostly plays alone in his room instead. That’s...

He wanted revenge and I knew he would not stop until he got it. I had to hope he would run out of fuel.

Perhaps love doesn’t divert sound judgment.

Resting on the roots of this old oak I lean back against his knotted trunk, shine my granny smith on my sleeve And ponder the days…

Something, somewhere, knows what’s best for me and promises to keep sending me people and experiences to light my way as long as I live in gratitude and keep paying attention to the signs.

If I had an .MP3 of your heartbeat… I might actually get some sleep.

The Mozart sonata Dad picked out begins to play. When we hear the first note, we open the sacks and the ladybugs escape through the opening, taking flight. It’s as if someone has dumped rubies...

Plus, I happened to be a history nerd. Why else would I be interested in a guy born in the year 519?

Have you ever noticed how as an adult, all the bright colors go out of your life? Now that I’m not a kid anymore, things always look gray, like a clothesline draped with laundry that’s...