“The end comes to all of us...but the end comes quicker to those who do not live their lives as they choose. If your life is not your own, then in what way is it living?”

“Whisper to the flashing water your real name, write your signature in the sand, and shout your identity to the sky until it answers to you in thunder.”

“The best words I ever heard about making your own reputation," Gram said, looking over her shoulder into the back seat, "is that you come into the world crying while everyone is smiling at the miracle of you, and you should live your life so when you leave it, you're smiling, but everyone else is crying because the miracle of you is gone.”

“There are disappointments in all men's lives, even those who have achieved their ambition, and there are compensations.”

“We all have to learn to live with our losses, and to use our regrets to spur us on in the future.”

“Live how you live, feel how you feel and fuck all the phonies in your way.”

“Fritz was melancholic by nature, and could tolerate his own gloom. I do not think this is so with you, who are sanguine and impatient. In your case, remorse and despondency could be crippling.”