My change from girl to boy was far less dramatic than the distance anybody travels from infancy to adulthood.

The Statue of Liberty's gender changed nothing. It was the same here as anywhere: men and their wars.

Added to their loveliness was a new mysterious suffering, perfectly silent, visible in the blue puffiness beneath their eyes or the way they would sometimes stop in mid-stride, look down, and shake their heads as though disagreeing with life.

In the end, it wasn't death that surprised her but the stubbornness of life.

Biology gives you a brain. Life turns it into a mind.

I know that attaching memories to books may be going out of the world, but while it lasts, it's a strong record of your life.