"But none of that kept me from picturing what a tsunami might look like if it did rise up and roar toward my little boat like some watery blue version of the Great Wall of China."

"It seems like people my age are over-protected today, even to the point where a lot of parents refuse to put their kids in the position to make important decisions, to aspire to great things, because they don’t want to put them in a position to fail."

"I saw the loose tiller jolt hard to the side as the boat began to spin."

"The critics barged in to harp on every decision we made. . .Sadly, I began to doubt myself. Maybe I was too young. Maybe I wasn’t a good enough sailor."

"After the week of stormy weather, she set sail under sunny skies, on a glassy sea with a big swell running."

"I’m one-hundred-fifty miles off Cape Horn, both autopilots are broken, and my boat is drifting toward one of the nastiest chunks of ocean on the face of the earth."

"Being at sea is like watching the whole world in high-definition."

"Fewer people have successfully solo-circumnavigated the globe than have journeyed into space."

"All the ingenuity, all the high-tech gear, all the jury-rigging—sometimes the sea would rip it all away until there was only you, the Creator, and His mercy."

"One day that same year, I told my dad that someday, I would sail around the world alone."

"I wanted to break the record, of course, and become the youngest person to sail around the world solo and unassisted."

"On October 19, 2009, my sixteenth birthday, Wild Eyes officially became mine! Now it was really happening."

"The winds were blowing from west to east, pushing Abby’s boat toward the rocks as Abby struggled with the autopilots below. If Wild Eyes reached those islands, she wouldn’t run aground, keel in the sand. She would be smashed into pieces."

"When a sailor overcomes crushing adversity, there’s a massive sense of accomplishment."

"I am twelve thousand miles wiser, twelve thousand miles more resilient, and I have twelve thousand miles more faith in God."

"I will definitely attempt to sail around the world again. In fact, I can’t wait for the chance to try again."

"Just like that, a single phone call erased one possible, horrendous future—and replaced it with the bright certainty that God had answered the prayers of thousands and that their beloved Abby was coming home."

"Unable to make radio contact with this second plane I felt my chances were fading fast. Dropping the radio mic, I sprinted up to the deck . . . and saw a huge ship bearing down on me!"

"The things that happen on the sea take you beyond yourself, beyond human capability."

"Just as I was about to grab the rope ladder, a huge swell lifted the dinghy nearly to La Reunion’s deck level, and at least a dozen smiling French fishermen pulled me aboard."

"Against reason, I thought that the next swell would be it: another rogue wave would roll me again . . .At that moment, a noise from above caught my attention. And I looked up just in time to see a gigantic white airplane fly by."

"I will never forget the feeling of walking into my home, a place that while drifting helpless in the middle of the Indian Ocean I wondered if I would ever see again."

"When I saw the plane, I was absolutely astonished! Two emotions crashed over me: surging joy and crazy fear."

"The seriousness of my situation started to sink in, and again I fought panic. I pushed it down, but it was harder this time, like my insides were an open can of shaken soda and I was trying to keep it from bubbling up out of the top."

"In that moment it dawned on me that everything has to line up perfectly for something to turn out this awful."

"I knew that even if I was able to call for help, I was in a place so remote that it wasn’t likely there would be anyone who could help me. And even if there were, it could take weeks."

"It was like a horrible movie clip, only worse, because I could feel it—not just see it."

"It was dark. Something had fallen on top of the cabin light, turning the cabin into a black tunnel. I couldn’t hear anything at all. The roll didn’t stop. It continued to port, and for just a few seconds I was sitting on the ceiling in the dark."

"Even without looking I knew: there was no way I still had a mast. And without a mast, the trip was over."

"Marianne tried to stay hopeful. But slowly her imagination bulldozed her optimism aside and pushed her mind into a dark place. There, she saw Abby tethered to the boat in her bright red foul-weather gear, being dragged along dead in the sea."

"Fifty feet of mast lay in the heaving water, downed lines and shrouds holding it there."

"The terrifying physics of going up-mast in heavy seas are inescapable."

"But the more times she missed, the faster she’d be traveling when she finally slammed into the mast. And it wasn’t if she hit the mast; it was when. At that point, Abby would be either severely injured or dead."

"The swells were amazing! As big as three-story apartment buildings!"

"The only thing I knew to do was to pray. “Lord, if I’m going to be rescued,” I said out loud, “please let me know.”"

"A “trusted leader in our small business community and a relentless advocate who approaches advocacy with a resilient spirit and a smile for all” - Senator Michael Gianaris"

"Crews is one of the most sharp, charming, and heartfelt comedic storytellers working in NYC."

""That's the way it is" is unacceptable. If I'd accepted that mentality I'd never be where I am today. Expect something better. Fight for it.*"

"Life is full of disappointments. And by "disappointments" I mean "people.""

"Wooh green-screen ponies!"

"Certain individuals continue to perpetuate negative stereotypes about Republicans. Especially Republican women. Who do I feel is the biggest culprit? Ann Coulter. I straight up don’t understand this woman or her popularity. I find her offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing all at the same time. But no matter how much you or I disagree with her, the cult that follows Coulter cannot be denied. She is a New York Times best-selling author and one of the most notable female members of the Republican Party. She was one of the headliners at the recent CPAC conference (but when your competition is a teenager who has a dream about the Republican Party and Stephen Baldwin, it’s not really saying that much). Coulter could be the poster woman for the most extreme side of the Republican Party. And in some ways I could be the poster woman for the opposite. I consider myself a progressive Republican, but here is what I don’t get about Coulter: Is she for real or not? Are some of her statements just gimmicks to gain publicity for her books or does she actually believe the things she says? Does she really believe all Jewish people should be “perfected” and become Christians? And what was she thinking when she said Hillary Clinton was more conservative than my father during the last election? If you truly have the GOP’s best interests at heart, how can you possibly justify telling an audience of millions that a Democrat would be a better leader than the Republican presidential candidate? (I asked Ann for comment on this column, including many of the above questions, but she did not answer my request.)"

"For years this rule has kept me out of hopeless despair: You simply do not feel what is always there. I ask my brain to entertain that pain is the same, that if I feel it all the time, can you really call it pain?"

"McCain has earned herself a remarkable bit of controversy in the relatively short period of time that she's emerged as a pundit, picking fights with the likes of Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove and...well, a huge chunk of the Republican Party."

"I thought what would I give, if it could be true If I could ever feel again the way I felt when I read you"

"It seems no matter what I read I think "this is not harry potter.""

"I forgot how to throw a boomerang, but then it came back to me."

"The way that we look does not have anything to do with the way that we sound, or the way that we are."

"So the president is like, "Well, once upon a time it was Congress's job to decide whether or not we attacked countries, so let's let them decide." Which is funny, because, as we all know, if Congress were on fire, Congress could not pass the "Pour Water on Congress Act"."

"I think it's pretty ridiculous to sit back and think that we've changed the horse so much, without realizing that they have changed us an awful lot too."

"We've got to keep 6 billion people happy without destroying our planet. It's the biggest challenge we've ever faced....but we're taking it on."