“I wanted to quit and to do this forever, sleep in a bed and in a tent, see what was over the next hill and never see a hill again. All of this all at once, every moment, on the trail or off.”

“Once I see God, I'll never be hungry or thirsty or bored again, never wish or want again, never reach for something undefined again. I will have it all.”

“I go out on the side of a hill, maybe hunting deer, and sit there and see the shadow of night coming over the hill, and I can swear to you there is a part of me that is absolutely untouched by anything civilized. There's a part of me that has never heard of a telephone.”

“Because, sir, the way I look at it is that we are all drawing on to the bottom of the hill, whatever age we are, on account of time never standing still for a single moment. So let us always do a kindness, and be over-rejoiced. To be sure!”

“Those days are over. I have to be won all over again every time you see me.”

“Laura wanted all of it back, every moment, so that she could live it all over again.”