“Enlarged sympathy with children was one of the chief contributions made by the Victorian English to real civilization.”

“His longterm aspirations were not a subject upon which he allowed himself to dwell. Not because they were in any way bad or bizarre, but because he had come to realize he didn't have any. Nothing specific anyway. He'd never pictured himself as anything in particular. Just a situation where he made enough money doing something... anything... enough to have whatever he wanted. A nice new Dodge pickup. A boat or maybe a little house someplace. The kind of things people wanted.”

“...Raleigh was later to write, after a duel the hangman was the one who bestowed the garland on the victor.”

“If I could live anywhere, I'd live up in the Mountains where it's cool, and far away from everything. I'd live like a hermit and write like a fiend.”

“We are the children of the earth and removed from her our spirit withers.”

“Education...has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading.”

“God sends children for another purpose than merely to keep up the race -- to enlarge our hearts, to make us unselfish, and full of kindly sympathies and affections.”