“I don’t think there is any mystery to understanding the passionate feelings people have for guns. Nobody really believes it’s about maintaining a militia. It’s about having possession of a tool that makes a person feel powerful nearly to the point of exaltation.”

“Somewhere Chesterton writes--I think it is Chesterton--that you cannot reason a man from a position that reason didn’t deliver him to.”

“One of the reasons there are so many terms for conditions of ice is that the mariners observing it were often trapped in it, and had nothing to do except look at it.”

“Someone responding to intuition, to chance and fortune, often can't explain himself well.”

“...and there were these people running around with guns.”

“Give me that warm feeling,That makes me believe again.Give me that soft answer,The kind you gave me way back when.Give me some true kindness,That brightens the sky again.Give me the best that's in you,And encouragement now and then.Dust off those long-lost manners!Bury ambition and guile!Unfurl those lovely bannersOf virtue and laughter and style!Give me that warm feeling,Take off that impersonal glove.Remember, remember we're dealingWith that fair and rare thing called love!”

“And he understands. He understands why people hold hands: he’d always thought it was about possessiveness, saying This is mine. But it’s about maintaining contact. It is about speaking without words. It is about I want you with me and don’t go.”