“I can't wait to get out of the house. I can't wait to get out of here. I've been telling myself this all week. The 'getting out of here' part is unspecified, though. Maybe I simply want to get away from life”

“then why sell?" James had asked. "have to," Redmond said. "if I want to get married and have children and live in this city, I have to." "since when do you want to get married and have kids?" James asked. "since now. Life gets boring when you're middle-aged. You can't keep doing the same thing. You look like an asshole. You ever notice that?" Redmond had asked.”

“You can get used to anything, I guess, if you've been there enough.”

“I've always thought there are two ways of getting what you wanted in life.Forcing people to give it to you,or making them want to give it to you.”

“Maybe all men are a drug. Sometimes they bring you down and sometimes, like now, they get you so high.”

“I’ve had boyfriends before, and frankly, each one was a disappointment.There was nothing horribly wrong with these boys. It was my fault. I’m kind of a snob when it comes to guys.So far, the biggest problem with the boys I’ve dated is that they weren’t too smart. And eventually I ended up hating myself for being with them. It scared me, trying to pretend I was something I wasn’t. I could see how easily it could be done, and it made me realize that was what most of the other girls were doing as well—pretending. If you were a girl, you could start pretending in high school and go on pretending your whole life, until, I suppose, you imploded and had a nervous breakdown, which is something that’s happened to a few of the mothers around here. All of a sudden, one day something snaps and they don’t get out of bed for three years.”

“All those men who end up disappointing you. After a while, you don't even want to have feelings anymore. You just want to get on with your life.”