“Life is naught but battles big and small, and most of them unexpected.”

“Perhaps the so-called civilized world was a great noisy burden beneath all its wonders, and it was a relief to let go of it for a while.”

“Aye, well, it’s like a battle. Ya lay yer plans, then when they go wrong, ya make things up as ya go.”

“Education and assimilation were devastatingly effective at controlling a conquered people.”

“Life is naught but battles big and small, and most of them unexpected.”

“Funny how being a grown-up didn’t make you any less glad to have a mom on the scene. Whether it was your own or someone else’s mother, it was like having the cavalry arrive.”

“To hold the Gift is to protect the balance in all things and to restore harmony. To hold the Gift is to comfort the mind and spirit, and to heal both heart and body. To hold the Gift is to be a bridge between worlds and to be a bearer of light.”

“High to low, roof to floor, wall to wall, and door to door; Basement deep to sky above, fill this home with light and love.”

“Sometimes the universe conspires to give you what you really want, Liam. And it’s your job to let it.”

“Kind of like CSI investigating a social error—Here’s the corpse of the situation, what do you think killed it?—with the hope of preventing further fatalities. Often as not, it boiled down to missed cues.”

“Everybody says you have to decide between the head and the heart, but that’s just so much bullshit. Your heart and your head don’t know a damn thing between them when it comes to other people. Your head can know facts about them, sure—like a criminal record or a Purple Heart—but that’s about it. And your heart only knows how it feels and what it wants, not what the other person is feeling . . .”