“I don't know why I started writing. I don't know why anybody does it. Maybe they're bored, or failures at something else.”

“I couldn't trust you with it. To do something with it. I don't want anybody talking about me. To say where I was or what I said when I was there. I mean, you could talk about me maybe. But nobody could say that it was me. I could be anybody. I think in times like these the less said the better. If something had happened and we were survivors and we met on the road then we'd have something to talk about. But we're not. So we don't.”

“Hard people make hard times. I've seen the meanness of humans till I don't know why god ain't put out the sun and gone away.”

“I don't know what sort of world she will live in and I have no fixed opinions concerning how she should live in it. I only know that if she does not come to value what is true above what is useful, it will make little difference whether she lives at all.”

“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.”

“I didn't mean I'd seen everything, John Grady said.I know you didn't.I just meant I'd seen some things I'd as soon not of.I know it. There's hard lessons in this world. What's the hardest? I dont know. Maybe it's just that when things are gone they're gone. They aint comin back. Yessir.”

“Ive seen the meanness of humans till I dont know why God aint put out the sun and gone away.”