"I went to him in the doorway and embraced him tightly. 'Thank you,' I whispered. 'You've done so much for us, and we've done nothing for you.'Don't say that.' Vic's hands patted my back. 'You're my friends. Nothing else to it."

"I was struck by Suu Kyi's warmth and generosity. No matter how petite she looks, she exudes amazing strength. More than anything else, I felt like I already knew her, like she was an old friend, because I'd been watching her so intently, and she was exactly what I had figured she would be."

"[Jem] looked from Will to Tessa and raised his silvery eyebrows. 'A miracle,' he said. 'You got him to speak.'Just to shout at me, really,' said Tessa. 'Not quite loaves and fishes."

"By surrounding yourself with people who are positive, caring, intelligent, loving, and open-minded, you create a personal environment that is conducive to your emotional and personal growth. By surrounding yourself with the opposite, you create a personal environment that is conducive to the opposite. Choose accordingly."

"Our biographies involve each other so intrinsically now that we're both on nearly every page. We know the answers because we were there, and so curiosity becomes hard to maintain; replaced, I suppose, by nostalgia."

"What's in a life without Camaraderie? For setting sail on a ship with a band of merry brothers by your side is much more gratifying than drifting aimlessly on a boat lost alone at sea."

"The opinions which we hold of one another our relations with friends and kinsfolk are in no sense permanent save in appearance but are as eternally fluid as the sea itself."

"Sometimes you can grow more in a shorter amount of time with the right company than years of soul-searching alone, or by living the same patterns you've lived for your entire life."