“The P’lice Department hounded him, they called him Mr. Smith. They got him on conspiracy, they were never quite sure who with. ”

“I think women rule the world and that no man has ever done anything that a woman either hasn't allowed him to do or encouraged him to do.”

“They're selling postcards of the hanging They're painting the passports brown The beauty parlor is filled with sailorsThe circus is in townHere comes the blind commissionerThey've got him in a tranceOne hand is tied to the tight-rope walkerThe other is in his pantsAnd the riot squad they're restlessThey need somewhere to goAs Lady and I look out tonightFrom Desolation Row.”

“The Duke [John Wayne] was a massive figure. He looked like a heavy piece of hauled lumber, and it didn't seem like any man could stand shoulder to shoulder with him.”

“This land is your land and this land is my land, sure, but the world is run by those that never listen to music anyway.”

“[In 1951] we were also told that the Russians could be parachuting from planes over our town at any time. These were the same Russians that my uncles had fought alongside only a few years earlier. Now they had become monsters who were coming to slit our throats and incinerate us. It seemed peculiar. Living under a cloud of fear like this robs a child of his spirit. It's one thing to be afraid when someone's holding a shotgun on you, but it's another thing to be afraid of something that's just not quite real.”

“It's a shadowy world, skies are slippery grey. A woman just gave birth to a prince today and dressed him in scarlet. He'll put the priest in his pocket, put the blade to the heat, take the motherless children off the street and place them at the feet of a harlot.”