“She was fifteen when it occurred to her for the first time that women did not run railroads and that people might object. To hell with that, she thought- and never worried about it again.”

“She was twelve years old when she told Eddie Willers that she would run the railroad when they grew up. She was fifteen when it occurred to her for the first time that women did not run railroads and that people might object. to hell with that, she thought--and never worried about it again.”

“She looked slowly about her, noting every object and the reason for its presence.”

“The strip of earthy, faintly visible outside the window, was running faster now, blending into a gray stream. Through the dry phrases of calculations in her mind, she noticed that she did have time to feel something: it was the hard, exhilarating pleasure of action.”

“She had learned, in the slums of her childhood, that honest people were never touchy about the matter of being trusted.”

“She had never done these things before; she did them expertly. She had a capacity for action, a competence that clashed incongruously with her appearance.”

“She was incapable of love for any object not of her own choice and she resented anyone's demand for it.”