“It is so hard trying to say what you mean.”

“What does it mean that social structures among young people are so often predicated upon trying really, really hard to appear to not-be-trying?”

“I mean what I say and I try to say what I mean.”

“It's hard to hear what they're saying. Have you ever tried to say, 'What's the special today?' to somebody from Bulgaria? And the worst ones — if they're from India. I mean, they're all lovely people, but you gotta have an interpreter. Or how many of you try to return something on Amazon on a telephone?”

“Say what you mean and mean what you say,
before the wall of water washes you away…”

“All my friends are always telling me how hard it is to have kids. 'Oh, David, it's so hard.' That's not hard. I'll tell you what hard is. Try talking your girlfriend into her third consecutive abortion. Yeah, that's hard, that takes finesse. You’re just inconvenienced.”

“No matter how hard you try to be what you once were, you can only be what you are here and now.”

“Try to work so hard for your benefit that you can compress a week into one day.”

“And no matter what you do or how hard you try, you can’t stop
yourself from dreaming.”

“You are beautiful,” he whispered to me. “If you say so.” “Do ye not believe me? Have I ever lied to you?” “That’s not what I mean. I mean—if you say it, then it’s true. You make it true.”