“You'll never make a fortune working for the boss man”

“The way Mom saw it, women should let menfolk do the work because it made them feel more manly. That notion only made sense if you had a strong man willing to step up and get things done, and between Dad's gimp, Buster's elaborate excuses, and Apache's tendency to disappear, it was often up to me to keep the place from falling apart. But even when everyone was pitching in, we never got out from under all the work. I loved that ranch, though sometimes it did seem that instead of us owning the place, the place owned us.”

“Anyone who thinks he's too small to make a difference has never been bit by a mosquito”

“No one expected you to amount to much," she told me. "Lori was the smart one, Maureen the pretty one, and Brian the brave one. You never had much going for you except that you always worked hard.”

“Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten, you'll still have your stars.”

“It was good work, the kind of work that let you sleep soundly at night and, when you awoke, look forward to the day.”

“Look at the way you live. You've sold out. Next thing I know you'll become a Republican." She shook her head. "Where are the values I raised you with?”