Meaningful Quotes from Chapter 7

     "I didn't put them [his bruises] there for her [his mother], but still I want her to ask me how I got them (even though she probably knows), and to feel sorry for me (because she should realize how hard things are for me), and to feel terrible (because at lease some of it is her fault), and to promise me that she won't die and leave me alone. But she didn't say anything" (page 173).

     "Then, out of nowhere, a flock of birds flew by the window, extremely fast and incredibly close" (page 165).

     "My boots were so heavy that I was glad there was a column underneath us. How could such a lonely person have been living so close to me my whole life? If I had known, I would have gone up to keep him company (page 163).

     "'Did you know that in the last 3,500 years there have been only 230 years of peace throughout the civilized world?'" (Page 161).

     "'The ax won! It's always that way!'" (page 161)

     "I was impressed by how much life Mr. Black had lived, and how much he wanted to have his life around him" (page 160).

     "'It's not a horrible world,' he told me...'but it's filled with horrible people!'" (page 156)

     "'I've lived long enough to know I'm not one-hundred-percent anything!'" (page 156)

     "'Oh,' he said, 'she died twenty-four years ago! Lone time ago! Yesterday, in my life!' 'Oops.' 'It's OK!' 'You don't feel bad that I asked about her? You can tell me if you do.' 'No!' he said. 'Thinking about her is the next best thing!'" (page 154)

     "'You have to keep the door open so they can come in! But it also means you have to let them go!'" (page 153)

     "'Ghosts don't care if you believe in them," (page 151)

     "'I know what I am.' I nodded my head, even though I didn't know what she was talking about or what it had to do with anything. 'Even if I don't like what I am, I know what I am. My children like what they are, but they don't know what they are. So tell me which is worse.' 'What are the options again?' She cracked up and said, 'I like you.'" (page 150-151)

     "'Do you have more things that you need, or more that you don't need?' I said, 'It depends on what it means to need.'" (page 150).