“I was determined to know beans.”

“I know I shouldn't feel guilty for being angry sometimes, or bitter" "Knowing something is beans.”

“The calories in chocolate don't count because chocolate comes from the cocoa bean, and everyone knows that beans are good for you.”

“It is my trade," he said. "I work for the bean family, and every day there are deaths among the beans, mostly from thirst. They shrivel and die, they go blind in their one black eye, and I put them in one of these tiny coffins. Beans, you know, are beautifully shaped, like a new church, like modern architecture, like a planned city”

“I’m a bean counter. Oh, I’m not an accountant, but I did spill pinto beans on the counter.”

“I grow green beans in my garden. The one thing I know about harvesting them is that you need to train your eyes to see the beans. At first it all looks like leaves, until you see one bean and then another and another. If you want clarity, too, you have to look hard. You have to look under things and look from different angles. You'll see what you need to when you do that. A hundred beans, suddenly.”