“The Apache don't have a word for love," he said.
"Know what they both say at the marriage? The squaw-taking ceremony?"
"Tell me."
"Varlebena. It means forever. That's all they say.”

“All I could say was, "I don't know what to do." I remember her taking me by the shoulders and looking me in the eye with a calm smile and saying simply, "Tell the truth, tell the truth, tell the truth.”

“I feel like I am constantly saying things I don't mean. I tell people they should share their faith, but I don't feel like sharing my faith. I tell people that should be in the Word, but I am only in the Word because I have to teach the Word. I said to a guy the other day, 'God bless you.' What does that mean? I have been saying that stuff all my life, but what does it mean? Then I started thinking about all the crap I say. All the clichés, all the parroted slogans. I have become an infomercial for God, and I don't even use the product.”

“Just tell me you don't love me, and I'll let the matter drop."
"What?"
"What I said. Just say, 'Rai, I don't love you and I never will'. It's that simple."
"Raisa, this is getting us nowhere."
"Say it!”

“A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is.”

“Listen to the words people say in their lyrics, and tell me, if that's some real shit, if that's real to you, you know what I mean. Listen to what they sayin', don't just bob your head to the beat, peep the game, and listen to what Im saying. Hold us accountable for it.”

“I don't know what it means and I don't care because it's Shakespeare and it's like having jewels in my mouth when I say the words.”

“You don't have to say I love you to say I love you," you said with a shrug. "All you have to do is say my name and I know."

…"Can't you hear it?" you said. "When you love someone, you say their name different. Like it's safe inside your mouth.”

“Say it," she said.
"Say it sober."
"I love you," he said.
"I don't want you to say it back unless you mean it, but I love you."
She leaned back over him, and pressed the pads of her fingertips against his.
"I mean it.”

“I need a watchman to tell me this is what a man says but this is what he means, to draw a line down the middle and say here is this justice and there is that justice and make me understand the difference.”