To Sethe, the future was a matter of keeping the past at bay. The "better life" she believed she and Denver were living was simply not that other one.

No matter what all your teeth and wet fingers anticipated, there was no accounting for the way that simple joy could shake you.

Sweet, crazy conversations full of half sentences, daydreams and misunderstandings more thrilling than understanding could ever be.

Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.

In Ohio seasons are theatrical. Each one enters like a prima donna, convinced its performance is the reason the world has people in it.

if they put an iron circle around your neck I will bite it away

You your own best thing, Sethe. You are.

She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.

Was it hard? I hope she didn't die hard.'Sethe shook her head. 'Soft as cream. Being alive was the hard part.

Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.

Outside, snow solidified itself into graceful forms. The peace of winter stars seemed permanent.

Do it because you WANT to, not just because you HAVE to. When you do what you want, you create an Unstoppable POWER.

Their heartbeats rushed through his body. His arms circled around her, just so he could keep himself from falling.

We're used to boy meets girl, boy likes girl, instant attraction on TV. But you throw a son in there, you throw a marriage in there, and you've got some really good character stuff.

Better is a book than a well built house.

The universe is so big, there's so many worlds, there must be one of them or more, something that's alive.

I strive for honesty in playing what I feel.

A codependent person is one who has let another person's behavior affect him or her and who is obsessed with controlling that person's behavior.

If I were to put on Barbra Streisand and Duke Ellington, one might say the combination isn't good.

I make more movies than I see.

Inquisitiveness is self-serving, Johanna. -Marcus Eaton