“I told him I'd always found the description a little too long on adjectives and a little too short on specifics.”

“How little imagination and courage we show in our hatreds.”

“..the Zimmers sharpening their sarcasm. Over an early dinner, they chipped away at each other like little Michelangelos, placing every stroke of the mallet with care and devotion.”

“Whatever setbacks he had faced in his life, he said, however daunting or dispiriting the unfolding of events, he always knew that he would make it through, as long as when he woke in the morning he was looking forward to his first cup of coffee. Only decades later would I realize that he had been giving me a piece of advice.”

“If only someone had told me about the confidence-boosting nature of guns, I’d have been shooting them all my life.”

“I'm willing to be under anything...as long as it isn't somebody's thumb.”

“He had that certain confidence in his bearing, that democratic interest in his surroundings, and that understated presumption of friendliness that are only found in young men who have been raised in the company of money and manners. It didn't occur to people liek this that they might be unwelcome in a new environment - and as a result they rarely were.”