“Child, when hard luck fall it just keep fallin'.”

“Schoolteachers can be some hard-eyed people, with talkin eyes; they mouth sayin one thing and them eyes be screamin another.”

“Everybody's got some sin, but if it troubles your heart you're a gentle sinner, just a good soul gone wrong.”

“One day I almost said it . . . after goin over the words in my mind, "Benjie, the greatest thing in the world is to love someone and they love you too." But when I opened my mouth, I said, "Benjie, brush the crumbs off your jacket.”

“Gawd might forgive but people never will.”

“But if we grow stronger...and rise higher than what's pullin' us down...Yes, rise higher than dirt...that fifty pound weight will lift and you'll be free, free without anybody's by-your-leave. Do something to wash out the sin.”

“Two things a man can give the woman he loves...his name and his protection...”