“Folks build a reputation by attacking you while you’re alive - or praising you after you ain’t.”

“Listen up. Rant would tell people: ‘You’re a different human being to everybody you meet.’Sometimes Rant said, ‘You only ever is in the eyes of other folks.’If you were going to carve a quote on his grave, his favorite saying was: ‘The future you have tomorrow won’t be the same future you had yesterday.”

“Skin, bones, blood and organs transplant from person to person. Even what’s inside you already, the colonies of microbes and bugs that eat your food for you, without them you’d die. Nothing of you is all-the-way yours. All of you is inherited.Whatever you’re thinking, a million other folks are thinking. Whatever you do, they’re doing, and none of you is responsible. All of you is a cooperative effort.”

“Isn't a kid alive who doesn't dream about rewarding her folks, or punishing them.”

“How folks lay claim to a loved one is they give you a name of their own. They figure to label you as their property.”

“Your folks are god, you love them and you want to make them happy but you still want to make up your own rules.”

“Kids, she says. When they’re little, they believe everything you tell them about the world. As a mother, you’re the world almanac and the encyclopedia and the dictionary and the Bible, all rolled up together. But after they hit some magic age, it’s just the opposite. After that, you’re either a liar or a fool or a villain.”