The opposite of the happy ending is not actually the sad ending -- the sad ending is sometimes the happy ending. The opposite of the happy ending is actually the unsatisfying ending.

Life is full of grief$$$ to exactly the degree we allow ourselves to love other people.

I've lived too long with pain. I won't know who I am without it.

I think you don't grow up until you stop worrying about other people's purposes or lack of them and find the purposes you believe in for yourself.

And enough for me that when my hand touched your shoulder$$$ you leaned on me; and when you felt me slip away$$$ you called my name.

The essence of training is to allow error without consequence.

Anything can become a children's book if you give it to a child...Children are actually the best (and worst) audience for literature because they have no patience with pretence.

Nature can't evolve a species that hasn't the will to survive. Individuals might be bred to sacrifice themselves$$$ but the race as a whole can never cease to exist.

It's as if every conversation with a woman was a test$$$ and men always failed it$$$ because they always lacked the key to the code and so they never quite understood what the conversation was really about.

If words can be lethal weapons$$$ I must provide them with an arsenal.