What was a gate anyway? A doorway, she thought. A portal. The possibility of a different world. The possibility that you might walk through the door… - Gabrielle Zevin

He wants to laugh out loud or punch a wall. He feels drunk or at least carbonated. Insane. At first, he thinks this is happiness, but then he determines it's love. Fucking love, he thinks. What a bother. It's completely gotten in the way of his plan to drink himself to death, to drive his business to ruin. The most annoying thing about it is that once a person gives a shit about one thing, he finds he has to start giving a shit about everything.

It had not been a lonely childhood, though many of her intimates had been somewhat less than real.

It was never worth worrying about someone you didn't love. And it wasn't love if you didn't worry.