And pity--people who inspire it in you are actually very powerful people. To get someone else to take care of you, to feel sorry for you--that takes a lot of strength, smarts, manipulation. Very powerful people.

The loneliness you feel with another person, the wrong person, is the loneliest of all.

Those questions you have? Whether he's the one, whether you feel about him the way you should, or whether the relationship is going okay? When you're not sure whether you're in love with someone or not, the answer is not.

Rejection, though--it could make the loss of someone you weren't even that crazy about feel gut wrenching and world ending.

That's what people do who love you. They put their arms around you and love you when you're not so lovable.

Maybe a person's world can grow bigger in all the right ways, not too wide that it becomes shallow, just large enough to preserve its depth.