None of us really changes over time. We only become more fully what we are.

What have you seen with your eyes?" asked the old woman. "What have you seen that you knew should not be there?

You'll sing a song of victory eternally, though there is none to be had.

Oh, but when love is reached through suffering, it has a power it can never gain through innocence.

I'd known for a long time why I loved history. It was because the historians made it sound so coherent, so purposeful, so complete. They'd take an entire century and impose a meaning on it, a personality, a destiny—and this was, of course, a lie.

I'm a little sadder for all of it, and a little meaner and a little more conscientious as well.

There are ways to live this life, and my way has always been one of inclusion—of our own kind, of all humankind, of all spirits, of all things under the sun. It's not a virtue with me. I don't know any other way to move through the world.