I wanted to tell her happy was hard for me. But I think she already knew that.

The heart can get really cold if all you've known is winter.

The summer sun was not meant for boys like me. Boys like me belonged to the rain.

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.

I wondered if my smile was as big as hers. Maybe as big. But not as beautiful.

Water was something he loved, something he respected. He understood its beauty and its dangers. He talked about swimming as if it were a way of life.

I bet you could sometimes find all the mysteries of the universe in someone's hand.

How could I have ever been ashamed of loving Dante Quintana?

Summertime. It was a song. It was a season. I wondered if that season would ever live inside of me.

The day he came home from the hospital, he cried. I held him. I thought he would never stop.I knew that a part of him would never be the same.They cracked more than his ribs.

You can’t expect to go both ways when you’re driving on a one-way street.

The best thing about being 40 is that you can appreciate 25-year-old men more.

The men who have done big things are those who were not afraid to attempt big things who were not afraid to risk failure in order to gain success.

No one is an environmentalist by birth. It is only your path, your life, your travels that awaken you.

Dear friend, Your heart is a polished mirror. You must wipe it dean of the veil of dust that has gathered upon it, because it is destined to reflect the light of divine secrets.

It matters to me that I feel loved by the universe - and I do.

Newspapers are the schoolmasters of the common people.

In the United States, we do a pretty good job of protecting iconic landscapes and postcard views, but the ocean gets no respect.

Atheists should point out that life without God can be meaningful, moral and happy.

The only way to cope with something deadly serious is to try to treat it a little lightly.

When you treat your time as though you are a machine; a doing machine; you are committing violence against the sacredness of life itself.