"I went on spouting bullshit Encouragements as Gus's parents, arm in arm, hugged each other and nodded at every word. Funerals, I had decided, are for the living."
"You do not immortalize the lost by writing about them. Language buries, but does not resurrect."
"And then the line was quite but not dead. I almost felt like he was there in my room with me, but in a way it was better, like I was not in my room and he was not in his, but instead we were together in some invisible and tenuous third space that could only be visited on the phone."
"The pleasure of remembering had been taken from me, because there was no longer anyone to remember with. It felt like losing your co-rememberer meant losing the memory itself, as if the things we'd done were less real and important than they had been hours before."
"Augustus,"I said. "Really. You don't have to do this.""Sure I do,"he said. "I found my Wish.""God, you're the best,"I told him."I bet you say that to all the boys who finance your international travel,"he answered."
"Maybe 'okay' will be our 'always"