Important Quotes

1. �No story sits by itself. Sometimes stories meet at corners and sometimes they
cover one another completely, like stones beneath a river� (10) - Narrator

The narrator is referring to the major theme of the novel. He uses this quote to
tell how the key became locked in the base of Freddy�s Free Fall which lead to
Eddie�s death a few months later. The major theme of the novel is that there are no
random acts in life and that all lives and stories intertwine in some way. Eddie
then learns, in his first lesson, his actions ended up killing the Blue Man. We
find it ironic that Eddie was killed in such a way as well.

2. �This is the greatest gift God can give you: to understand what happened in your
life. To have it explained. It is the peace you have been searching for� (35) -
Blue Man

The Blue Man is the first person Eddie meets in heaven; he is thus introducing that
Eddie will meet five people in heaven who will help give meaning and an
understanding to his life on earth. We see through flashbacks, in the story, that
Eddie suffered much pain and misconstrued events throughout his life on earth. As
the events unfold we see that throughout his life Eddie was searching for some kind
of peace within himself, which he never seemed to find. Eddie does not find this
peace until he meets Tala, the fifth person in heaven. She is able to finally give
Eddie the peace he has been searching for.

3. �Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you�re not really losing it.
You�re just passing it on to someone else� (94) - the Captain

In his second lesson, Eddie learns about the nature of sacrifice. Here the Captain
explains that from his death, he passed life on to Eddie and the other soldiers
that would have died, had they driven over the land mine. The Captain wants Eddie
to see that by his death, both he and Eddie gained something: the Captain kept his
promise of not leaving Eddie behind, and Eddie gained the remainder of his life. In
a way the Captain passed his life on to Eddie.

4. �Life has to end. Love doesn�t� (173) - Marguerite

This quote summarizes the fourth lesson. Marguerite teaches Eddie that lost love
does not end; it merely takes a different form. Eddie said he felt angry with
Marguerite for leaving him so young; however he still felt in love with her after
her death. Marguerite could feel Eddie�s love and her love for him did not end when
her life did.

5. �Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. � hatred is a curved blade.
And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.� (141) - Ruby

Here, Ruby is trying to teach Eddie that he must let go of the anger he harbors for
his father. Ruby tells Eddie that no one is born with anger; then when we die the
soul needs to free itself of it. This quote gives insight to one of the reasons why
Eddie was so miserable on earth: he lived his life holding so much anger and hatred
for his father that he, in turn, cast hatred upon himself and lived his life sad
and frustrated (result of the �curved blade� (141)).

6. �It�s fixed.� (144) - Eddie

Eddie said this quote to make peace with his father. It is important to realize the
significance of this quote which was referenced earlier in the story as well.
When Eddie was in junior high he worked with his father, doing maintenance. His
father would always test him with maintenance problems and say, �Fix it� (107).
After Eddie solved the maintenance problem he would tell his father, �It�s fixed�
(107). Eddie only felt a slight sense of approval from his father after he fixed a

In heaven, once Eddie realizes that he has to
his father, he tells his father, �It�s fixed�
cannot reply to him, we can assume that peace
and his father. Since Eddie�s father was only
something, as noted above, we can assume that
apology.
let go of the anger he holds against
(144). Although, Eddie�s father
has finally been made between Eddie
happy with him after he had fixed
Eddie�s father accepts Eddie�s

7. �Things that happen before you are born still affect you. And people who come
before your time affect you as well.� (123) --Ruby

Eddie does not understand, at first, why he is meeting Ruby in heaven. Although
Ruby and Eddie never met, on earth, we still see the significance Ruby�s actions
played in Eddie�s life. Ruby�s husband, Emile, built the pier for Ruby. The pier
caught fire one year and Emile became injured. He and Ruby moved away and sold the
pier. When Eddie�s father was dying in the hospital, Emile was staying in the bed
next to him. The night before Eddie�s father died, Ruby saw him get out of his
hospital bed and over to the window. He called for his family, Eddie, Eddie�s
mother and Joe, right before he died.

Had it not been for Ruby and Emile, there would have been no pier and Eddie would
have never worked there. Since Ruby also saw Eddie�s father calling his name out
the window, right before he died, she was also able to bring this to Eddie�s
attention, which helped him see a different side to his father and to eventually
let go of his anger toward him.

8. �...all endings are also beginnings. We just don�t know it at the time.� (1) -
Narrator

This quote is found at the very beginning of the novel and serves as the basis for
the remainder of the story. The novel begins with the end of Eddie�s life however,
it is the beginning of his journey in heaven where he will meet the five people who
will help him finally see the meaning of his life.

9. �Children. You keep them safe.� (191) - Tala

When Eddie meets Tala, he still doubts the purpose of his life. He states that he
was so sad because he never felt like he did anything with his life. He felt like
he accomplished nothing and that he wasn�t even supposed to be on earth. Tala, the
fifth person he meets in heaven, finally tells Eddie that his purpose in life was
to keep the children safe at the pier. For his entire life Eddie had completely
focused on the negativity of working at the pier and never realized just how many
children he had kept safe by testing the rides and his daily maintenance work.

10. �You burn me.� (188) - Tala

This is a major turning point for Eddie and also the climax of the novel. Eddie
always doubted and regretted his decision to run back into the burning hut, during
the war. He felt so strongly that there was an innocent child in the fire however,
before he could find out, the captain shot him to try and save his life. For the
remainder of his life Eddie would question himself if there was a child in the
fire, especially since he caused himself a chronic injury. When Tala tells Eddie
that he burned her, he finally realizes that there was a child in the fire who he
was trying to save. Eddie no longer has regret for running into the fire that
night, and costing himself his leg injury.
11. �Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to
regret. It's something to aspire to.�

12. �The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone.�

13. �Death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small
distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed.�

14. �In order to move on, you must understand why you felt what you did and why you
no longer need to feel it.�

15. �Scenery without solace is meaningless.�

16.�There are five people you meet in heaven. Each of us was in your life for a
reason. You may not have known the reason at the time, and that is what heaven is
for. For understanding your life on earth.�

17. �That's what heaven is. You get to make sense of your yesterdays�

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