“--Let us make a pact, she said. To madness at every juncture!”
“Whatever she says to you, it’s your jobnot to let her make you mad.”
“Break a pact. Accept forgiveness. Make a bet.”
“She's an old lady and she's ill. You just hold your head high and be a gentleman. Whatever she says to you, it's your job not to let her make you mad.”
“And so I make a pact with the devil, or in this case, my mommy.”
“(On Dickens) No other writer is quite as good at making marriage vows about remaining together "till death us do part" sound more like a suicide pact.”