“The best aunts aren't substitute parents, they're co-conspirators.”

“There was as much joy in surrendering free will as exercising it.”

“Duty eats free will for breakfast.”

“I’ve always been a sucker for the beautiful and the batshit.”

“The rhythm of breath may have been our first language.”

“The problem with getting old was that each day had to compete with the thousands of others gone by. How wonderful would a day have to be to win such a beauty contest? To even make it into the finals? Never mind that memory rigged the game, airbrushed the flaws from its contestants, while the present had to shuffle into the spotlight unaided, all pockmarked with mundanities and baggy with annoyances.”

“You're being parental', I said. 'Go find that squid'.”

“The best aunts aren't substitute parents, they're co-conspirators.”

“Everything beautiful hurts.”

“For the first time in his life, Stony felt it. It ran like a hot wire, up from his spine, to the base of his skull. His mouth opened on its own.He wanted to bite. He wanted to bite hard.”

“Perhaps that's a smile on Delia's face-but Delia's half skull turns every expression into a leer. She says, "Your uncle had a talent, kid. He made families wherever he went.”