“All his life Robert Grainier would remember vividly the burned valley at sundown, the most dreamlike business he’d ever witnessed waking—the brilliant pastels of the last light overhead, some clouds high and white, catching daylight from beyond the valley, others ribbed and gray and pink, the lowest of them rubbing the peaks of Bussard and Queen mountains; and beneath this wondrous sky the black valley, utterly still, the train moving through it making a great noise but unable to wake this dead world.”

“Sometimes you've got to start at the lowest valleys to climb to the highest mountain tops.”

“Everybody wants to be on the mountaintop, but if you'll remember, mountaintops are rocky and cold. There is no growth on the top of a mountain. Sure, the view is great, but what's a view for? A view just gives us a glimpse of our next destination-our next target. But to hit that target, we must come off the mountain, go through the valley, and begin to climb the next slope. It is in the valley that we slog through the lush grass and rich soil, learning and becoming what enables us to summit life's next peak.”

“When walking through the "valley of shadows," remember, a shadow is cast by a light.”

“Life, as you know, is a series of cycles, ups and downs. When we reach a peak of any type we have to recognize that you have to descend into the valley to get to the next peak. The valley is what makes us stronger.”

“Humility is the mother of giants. One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.”