“A painting is more than the sum of its parts,' he would tell me, and then go on to explain how the cow by itself is just a cow, and the meadow by itself is just grass and flowers, and the sun peeking through the trees is just a beam of light, but put them all together and you've got magic.”

“There’s no winning arguments with your parents, so why get all pumped up over them? It is way better to dive down and get out of the way than it is to get clobbered by some parental tidal wave.”

“One's character is set at an early age, son. The choices you make now will affect you for the rest of your life." He was quiet for a minute then dropped the curtain and said, "I hate to see you swim out so far you can't swim back.”

“You got nothin' to lose but your self-respect.”

“If chaos is a necessary step in the organization of one's universe, then I was well on my way.”

“All of a sudden I didn't fit in anywhere. Not at school, not at home...and every time I turned around, another person I'd known forever felt like a stranger to me. Even I felt like a stranger to me.”

“One's character is set at an early age. The choices you make now will affect you for the rest of your life. I hate to see you swim out so far you can't swim back.”

“I operate under the assumption that people don't notice the good in me. That's just how things always seem to play out. I get blamed, while con-artist kids like Venus, and Camille, and Gemma get believed. But the rescue lady noticed. In the background, just observing, she noticed.”

“Words can't fix my life.Words can't give me a family.Words can't do jack.You may be a teacher, Ms. Leone, but face it: You don't know squat.”

“Sometimes I get so caught up in my own problems that I forget how amazing the world is.”

“I had liked him for all the wrong reasons.”