“My prior experience with young men was to hear them swear 'Christ almighty in the craphouse!' at any dress with too many buttons.”

“Alice hands Annawake a handkerchief. Young people never carry them, she's noticed. They haven't yet learned that heartbreak can catch up to you on any given day.”

“She is too absorbed in the difficulties of being seventeen to want to hear the confusions of forty-four.”

“If you can't dress expensive, dress memorable.”

“No reporter worth his buttons will let the facts intrude on a good story. ”

“I had decided early on that if I couldn’t dress elegant, I’d dress memorable.”

“Most of the girls my age, or even younger, have babies. They appear way too young to be married, till you look in their eyes. Then you'll see it. Their eyes look happy and sad at the same time, but unexcited by anything, shifting easily off to the side as if they've already seen most of what there is. Married eyes.”