“Certain parts of your life, Dan, are directed by an almost desperate passion. Playwrights call it ends-of-the-earth type stuff. And it's good stuff.”

“The law is clear, but the situation has to do with the enforcement. Laws are used when the good people want something done for themselves.”

“My life before the flood was manageable; during the flood it was chaos. The National Weather Service only reported river levels, and at times, crest predictions. It didn't report or predict everything else that could go wrong.”

“...people in love always find a way...”

“People always ask me that, how it feels to be an orphan. I don't know. I want to ask them how it feels to have a family.”

“[Mr. Principi] "My question to you, class, is our species crawling toward re-enlightenment or limping toward extinction?"The smart aleck behind me. . . was threatened by my propensity to fight when he should have been afraid of Mr. Principi's question.”

“Our gifts, they are many:We hop, fly, and crawl.But kindness," he said,Is the finest of all!”