“Dealing with backstabbers, there was one thing I learned. They're only powerful when you got your back turned.”

“Things are sweeter when they're lost. I know--because once I wanted something and got it. It was the only thing I ever wanted badly, Dot, and when I got it it turned to dust in my hand.”

“You got three seconds, he says, then they're comin down. He starts to count. One... two...I turn and run.I can still hear him laughin when I'm halfways back to camp.”

“Because this is one of the things I learned on my own: you need to say things simply, especially when they're complicated.”

“Does that mean you're prepared to deal with whatever turns up? People aren't sometimes. When they learn the real truth, they're all of a sudden content to live with a lie.”

“The most important thing in business is a persona, Nico,' he was fond of saying. 'People want to know immediately what they're dealing with. And when they think about you, you've got to stand out in their minds--like one of those characters in a novel.”