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

“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.”

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

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

“Some truth has no nourishment in it.”

“Gawd might forgive but people never will.”

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