“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.”

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

“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.”

“[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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances.The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.”