“It's alarming how quickly people adjust to adventures when they are in one. You really have to work at being astonished by life.”

“All great adventures have moments that are really crap.”

“Look, when do the really interesting things happen? Not when you've brushed your teeth and put on your pyjamas and are cozy in bed. They happen when you are cold and uncomfortable and hungry and don't have a roof over your head for the night.”

“They [the Hardscrabbles]never enjoyed it when adults playfully lied to them. The adults always think they're being amusing and imaginative, just like children. But kids never lie playfully. They lie as if their lives depended on it.”

“Then she probably would have waved back," Max said. "And it might be a he.""Ha! Not likely," Lucia said. "Didn't you notice them?""Them what?" Max asked."Her... you know. She has breasts, Max! What do you think that is on her chest?""I think it's a pair of crossed arms," Max said.”

“...when you start to feel like you are better than someone else, you should probably stick your head in a toilet because at that moment your thoughts are crap.”

“Memory, in my opinion, is a complete noodle. It hangs on the silliest things but forgets the stuff that really matters.”