“It is remarkable how long men will believe in the bottomlessness of a pond without taking the trouble to sound it.”

“While men believe in the infinite some ponds will be thought to be bottomless.”

“Old pond — frogs jumped in — sound of water”

“Oyster Tom said that they were not talking about people but about men. He agreed that most men remain accountable to themselves only, and that but poorly. He said that the proper chore of a man is to be chargeable for those and that dear to him and that this was something women understood and knew how to do without being told. It was a thing women looked for in their men, and this was why most women lived lives of bottomless sorrow.”

“violence is an evil thing, but when the guns are all in the hands of the men without respect for human rights, then men are really in trouble.”

“You throw a stone into a deep pond. Splash. The sound is big, and it reverberates throughout the surrounding area. What comes out of the pond after that? All we can do is stare at the pond, holding our breath.”