Friends and Strangers

Last year, Sam had spent so many nights and weekends alone, looking for something to do. This year, she needed more hours in the day. It seemed that life was always like that. Too much to do, or not enough, but never the perfect amount.

Her own parents never fought, but they regarded each other like sturdy furniture - useful, reliable, there.

“As you made your way through life, there were people who stuck, the ones who stayed around forever and whom you came to need as much as you needed water or air. Others were meant to keep you company for a time. In the moment, you rarely knew which would be which.”

"The big secret of adulthood is that you never feel settled. Just unsettled in new ways. Your twenties are about getting the things you want - the career, the man. Your thirties are about figuring out what to do with that stuff once you've got it."

"As my mother always says, there are only two kinds of people in the world: women and children."

"That world has gone to shit. And yet most people are too confortable to care. We used to think Big Brother would come along and steal everything from us against our will. But now we just hand it to him with a smile."

"No one is going to tell you when you look like shit. A woman has to be her own worst critic."