“So remember, if you're feeling bitter — or sorry for yourself about what you've done, and how much good you've accomplished — or if you find yourself more than anyone else talking about the good you've done, you're doing it for the wrong reasons, because it should be the default.”

“No, you've got it all wrong, John." Reading his emotions, she shook her head. "You're not half the male you could be because of what was done to you. You're twice what anyone else is because you survived.”

“I scared myself, because once you've thought long and hard enough about doing something that is colossally stupid, you feel like you've actually done it, and then you're never quite sure what your limits are.”

“You're gutless. It's how you were made. And that's not such a bad thing because your saving grace is that you've never lied to yourself about it. Not about that. Nothing wrong with cowardice as long as it comes with prudence. But when a coward stops remembering who he is.. God help him.”

“How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?”

“You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job.”

“Hearing what you've done right is valuable. Hearing what you've done wrong can be priceless.”

“By 78 you've done everything you're going to do. If you haven't bungee-jumped by the time you're 78 you're not going to do it.”

“Once you've recognized your own limits, you've raised yourself to a higher level of being, since you're closer to the real you…”

“You see it's awfully hard to talk or write about your own stuff because if it is any good you yourself know about how good it is — but if you say so yourself you feel like a shit.”