“Ain't no man can outrun his fate.”

“Chip said it was his piano hands - one ain't never doing the same thing as the other.”

“Folks think a lifetime is a thing stretched out over years. It ain't. It can happen quick as a match in a dark room.”

“Ain't no glory made from being dependable.”

“It ain't really Czechoslovakian,' I said, coughing. 'We used to call it the Cheque. Like, you drink it up now, you pay for it later.”

“It ain’t fair. Gifts is divided so damn unevenly. Like God just left his damn sack of talents in a ditch somewhere and said, “Go help yourselves, ladies and gents.Them’s that get there first can help themselves to the biggest ones. In every other walk of life, a jack can work to get what he want. but ain’t no amount of toil going get you a lick more talent than you born with. Geniuses ain’t made, brother, they just is. and I just was not.”

“Chip recons that he is charming as hell, and who am I to poke holes in his theory. That means that sometimes lies leave his mouth dressed like truth. He just can’t help it.”