CHILDHOOD

'When we are green, still half-created, we believe that our dreams are rights, that the world is disposed to act in our best interests, and that failing and dying are for quitters. We live on the innocent and monstrous assurance that we alone, of all the people ever born, have a special arragement whereby we will be allowed to stay green forever.'

Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life, p.241.

CHILDHOOD

'Knowing that everything comes to an end is a gift of experience, a consolation gift for knowing that we ourselves are coming to an end. Before we get it we live in a continuous present, and imagine the future as more of that present. Happiness is endless happiness, innocent of its own sure passing. Pain is endless pain.'

Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life, p.194.

FEARLESSNESS

'Fearlessness in those without power is maddening to those who have it.'

Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life, p.21.

BEAUTIFUL WORDS

'...the most beautiful words ever written or said: His Father, when he saw him coming, ran to meet him.'

Tobias Wolff, Old School, p.195.

HOPE

'The beauty of a fragment is that it still supports the hope of brilliant completeness.'

Tobias Wolff, Old School, p.8.