Doug Dorst quotes:

A person is no more & no less than the Story of his Passions & Deeds.

-That's kind of sad.-I used to think so. Now I think: you're born a certain way. Later you get to decide how much you want to fight/change that. I don't mind being alone.-You must mind. If you didn't you wouldn't be doing this with me.

We're all just in the muck trying to believe we're capable of greatness, but closer to breaking than we want to admit. And we tell ourselves stories-about ourselves,but maybe also all these stories about other people, about characters-as a way to hide from how small we are.

Believing something doesn't change who you are. Neither does rejecting something you once believd in.

I don't trust anyone who wouldn't.

Better y'not vex y'self on what aint y'vexes. - Malstrom pg 269

Look at Andrew Roe's The Miracle Girl from one angle and you'll see an incisive and insightful critique of America at the millennium and today, investigating where we put our faith and why. The greatest of Roe's achievements in this captivating debut is a memorable feat of intense empathy. Roe inhabits characters who are desperate to believe and reveals to us their needs and wounds and hopes, and he does so with kindness, generosity, and wisdom. This is a novel about what it means to be human, to seek connection and hope and maybe even transcendence in the world around us.

Of course there is a monkey. There is always a monkey.

What begins at the water shall end there, and what ends there shall once more begin.

Time and circumstances change us...and it is pointless to ask why.