“Her silence was worth more to her than a thousand words. In that silence, she had peace and clarity. Except during the night, when her own jumbled thoughts would keep her awake.”

“Around her gulps of water, she repeated her prayer, until the monotony and futility silenced her.”

“She gave her a reason to write her own words, to see that words had also brought her to life.
"Don't punish yourself," she heard her say again, but there would be punishment and pain, and there would be happiness, too. That was writing.”

“Her silence was the blank space between the words.”

“If anything might hurt her, silence would; and I wanted to hurt her.”

“[S]he leans into this guy and rocks her head like I’m making this music for her, when if I could, I would take it all away and give her as much silence as she’s given me pain.”

“Her childhood, then her adolescence, had taught her patience, hope, silence and the easy manipulation of the weapons and virtues of all prisoners.”

“She had grown older. And he loved her more now than he had loved her when he understood her better, when she was the product of her parents. What she was now was what she herself had decided to become.”

“There was a silence. Hannah's own heart was twisted with the force of her love for him. Her eyes were full.”

“The day in his hotness,
The strife with the palm;
The night in her silence,
The stars in their calm.”