“I don't want… to run away by myself… because no matter what… I'd rather be together with everyone…”

“… I want those perfect eyes and lips, and for everyone to look at me and gasp. And for everyone who sees me to think Who's that? and want to get to know me, and listen to what I say."
"I'd rather have something to say.”

“He was waiting for me to say something. He was staring at me. This, I think, is the first time I dared myself to stare back at him. Usually, I'd cast a glance and then look away—look away because I didn't want to swim in the lovely, clear pool of his eyes unless I'd been invited to—and I never waited long enough to know whether I was even wanted there; look away because I was too scared to stare anyone back; look away because I didn't want to give anything away; look away because I couldn't acknowledge how much he mattered. Look away because that steely gaze of his always reminded me of how tall he stood and how far below him ranked.”

“I wanted to run away from everything but I wanted to run towards something too. Don't you see, dear, how it was?”

“If you don't take it, I'm going to throw it away," Alex cheerfully retorted. "I don't want to know what time it is. I don't want to know what day it is or where I am. None of that matters.”

“Keep me preoccupied
Keep me busy, busy, busy
So I won't have to think
I don't want to think
Because it only brings me pain
I just keep running away from
My problems
Keep me busy
Give me a million things to do
So I can keep running away from myself.”

“Maybe I don't really want to know what's going on. Maybe I'd rather not know. Maybe I couldn't bear to know. The Fall was a fall from innocence to knowledge.”

“If you run away from a thing just because you don't like it, you don't like what you find either.”

“I don't want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.”

“For a moment, staring down and realizing what I'd just done, I wanted to throw myself in after him, because surely there was no way I could go on living now.”