“You could forgive a lot if somebody was there to take care of things until you grew up.”

“...If you can look at somebody and say, 'I never loved you, you were a mistake,' that's one thing. But if you look at him and say, 'You were everything and I poisoned it because I wouldn't stand up for myself,' that's hard. That's too hard...”

“• The key to fighting is never to fight unless the cause is so great that you couldn’t bear not to defend it and the losses you are going to suffer are things that you could afford to lose. If you do fight, the thing to remember is that it is going to hurt because that is what happens in a fight and you might as well reconcile yourself to it in the beginning and then it will not matter when it happens”

“He picked up the biscuit box and said, "Come on, Marlene. Back into hiding in case somebody comes looking for you, although only God knows why anybody would.""Marlene?" Nell said."I'm not calling anything SugarPie," Riley said. "That's obscene.”

“Well, I know better what I don’t want. I don’t want somebody who’s always nagging me to be something I’m not. And I don’t want somebody who thinks she knows what’s best for me and who maneuvers around trying to get me to do things her way.” Kate frowned. “Nobody wants anyone like that. It’s like saying, ‘I don’t want someone who’ll poke me in the eye with a sharp stick.’ Forget what you don’t want. What do you want?”

“It was a lot easier when we could just brand'em," Ben said. "Then everybody'd know not to mess with our womenfolk.”

“It's a good thing he broke up with you because now you're free for when the right man finds you. Your prince is on his way.""Right. I'm sure he was on his way but a truck hit him.”