“Do you have any notion of how goddamned crazy you are?”

“This place aint the same. It never will be. Maybe we've all got a little crazy. I guess if everbody went crazy together nobody would notice, what do you think?”

“When you’re a kid you have these notions about how things are goin to be, Billy said. You get a little older and you pull back some on that. I think you just wind up tryin to minimize the pain. Anyway this country aint the same. Nor anything in it. The war changed everthing. I dont think people even know it yet.”

“You have to carry the fire."I don't know how to."Yes, you do."Is the fire real? The fire?"Yes it is."Where is it? I don't know where it is."Yes you do. It's inside you. It always was there. I can see it.”

“If I think about what I wanted as a kid and what I want now they aint the same thing. I guess what I wanted wasnt what I wanted. . . .Hell, I dont know what I want. Never did. . . . When you're a kid you have these notions about how things are goin to be. You get a little older and you pull back some on that. I tink you wind up just tryin to minimize the pain.”

“How do I know you're one of the good guys?You dont. You'll have to take a shot.Are you carrying the fire?Am I what?Carrying the fire.You're kind of weirded out, arent you?No.Just a little.Yeah.That's okay.So are you?What, carrying the fire?Yes.Yeah, We are.”

“He said that the notion that evil is seldom rewarded was greatly overspoken for if there were no advantage to it then men would shun it and how could virtue then be attached to its repudiation?”