“[...] There are tales among us that you have sold yourself to the devil, and I know not what.''We all have, have we not?' returned the stranger, looking up. 'If we were fewer in number, perhaps he would give better wages.”

“We all of us have our particular devil who ruses us and torments us, and we must give battle in the end.”

“I know,' said Winter, 'but they don't know.' And he went on with a thought he had been having. 'A time-minded people,' he said, 'and the time is nearly up. They think that just because they have only one leader and one head, we are all like that. They know that ten heads lopped off will destroy them, but we are a free people; we have as many heads as we have people, and in a time of need leaders pop up among us like mushrooms.”

“God is good to all of us. He knows what we need better than we do. And just because he thinks it is better not to give you what you want right now doesn't mean he isn't answering you. You shall have what you ask for but not until the right time comes." - Grandmamma”

“No, I mean with us. Do you think we would have made it?"It took a moment for her to answer. "I don't know, Noah. I really don't, and you don't either. We're not the same people we were then.We've changed. Both of us."She paused. He didn't respond, and in the silence she looked towards the creek. She went on. "But yes, Noah, I think we would have. At least, I'd like to think we would have.”

“What a storyteller does is *see* more than most of us. We say he's making up his stories, but he—or better yet, *she*—watches more carefully, and then tells us what we would have seen ourselves if we'd just stopped to look.”