If you set the person free, but they come back to you, well, that's love.

His eyes lock on mine, and the wind stops for just a few seconds. But sometimes seconds can last a very long time.

—Avery Williams in The Alchemy of Forever

Could it be that I'm actually happy? I don't trust the feeling enough to call it permanent.

—Avery Williams in The Alchemy of Forever

Why ever long for something from the past when the future brings things that are so much better?

—Avery Williams in The Alchemy of Forever

Can you imagine being forced to stay young forever, watching everyone you know die? How pointless would life seem if you saw that?

—Avery Williams in The Impossibility of Tomorrow

Your world is so… big. And what am I compared to that? How could my tiny existence be enough for you?

—Avery Williams in The Impossibility of Tomorrow

One mistake can change the course of your life. You can never return to your original path or go back to the person you were.

—Lisa See in The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

I let it go. It's like swimming against the current. It exhausts you. After a while, whoever you are, you just have to let go, and the river brings you home.

—Joanne Harris in Five Quarters of the Orange

Life comes from the earth and life returns to the earth.

—Zhuangzi

We must return to nature and nature's god.

—Luther Burbank