“People are so cheap. Everyone wants quality, no one wants to pay for it. Here's the suburban dream-- to hire great workers who are such meek morons that they don't have the guts to ask for a living wage.”

“Mom has the Touch. She knows what flowers go with what occasions, what hors d'oeuvres work with what people. She believes passionately in the power of food to heal, restore, and stimulate relationships, and she has built a following of loyal customers who really hope she's right. If she's wrong, says Sonia, no one wants to know.”

“You cannot measure the loss of a human life. It's all the things a person was, all their dreams, all the people who loved them, all they hoped to be and could give back to the world.”

“Finally he said, "Hope, do you want to have dinner with me sometime?"I dropped a plastic bottle of Gulden's.We looked at it on the floor. Neither of us picked it up."I mean, I know we have dinner a lot when we're working. I meant out someplace. Together." Braverman picked up the Gulden's bottle, handed it to me. He coughed. "A date."I said, "What is this, an epidemic?"I backed out the door and left Braverman in the supply closet.I don't get asked out too much either.”

“Staring down hard truth takes guts.”

“My grandma always said that God made libraries so that people didn't have any excuse to be stupid.”

“And we learned that you don't have to be famous or rich or physically healthy to be a leader. You just have to try to be a true person. We learned that helping other people brings out the good in everybody.”