Kelly Quindlen

“I want to feel something. I want it to be like … like the moment you hear a brilliant line of poetry. Like it knocks the breath out of you.”

that they had the whirlwind but not the calm blue sky.

“What if loneliness runs in my genes?” JaKory asked in a low voice. “What if I’ll never experience love because I’m just not compatible with anyone else, like my parents?”

‘My youth is infinite but my fears are intimate.’

“That I feel like I could have met them in kindergarten.”

it’s natural and easy, nothing held against each other.

“That I feel like I could have met them in kindergarten.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t meet most of my friends until high school, but every single one of them is someone I could have met on the kindergarten playground—it’s natural and easy, nothing held against each other. Remember how easy it was to make friends at that age?”

You don’t have to be just one version of yourself. You’re far more dynamic than that.

Just so you know, I think you’re one of the best people I’ve ever met. And I think being friends with someone should be like the concept of infinity—like you truly believe that person has no limits, and you just want to keep counting upward with them to see where they go.

I may hate her, but I wouldn’t wish homophobia on anyone.