“Things got so bad that Georgia lawmakers introduced legislation to move the state border north- to seize land that had been in Tennessee since 1818- all to capture a river. The governor turned to Plan B: a miracle. "O, Father, we acknowledge our wastefulness," Sonny Perdue prayed on the steps of the Georgia state capitol in front of a crowd of about a hundred people.”

“Tennessee's a hillbilly dumping ground, and Georgia's a lousy state too.”

“Hey, it could be worse," Hammond said of their efforts to protect the woodpecker. "It could be a butterfly." Butterflies were easy, I said. I would soon go to see a couple of clam species that the governor of Georgia had accused of endangering the lives of his state's children. Matteson laughed, "Woodpeckers are pretty, but mussels?" And so it goes.”

“We stood there for a moment, stunned. The crosswalk light turned green, and Georgia hooked her arm through mine as we stepped out into the street."Weird night," she said finally, breaking our silence."Understatement of the year," I replied. "Should we tell Mamie and Papy about it?""What?" Georgia laughed. "And spoil Papy's 'Paris is safe' delusion? They'd never let us out of the house again.”

“The Zionists accepted the partition plan. The AHC and the Arab states rejected any proposal to share the land and vowed to drown the fledging Jewish state in rivers of blood.”

“If I asked people how many people there are in the world, I’ll bet more than half would reply, “More than half.” True, but would they also know Georgia is a state, a country, and a painter?”