“He can kill anything for need but he could not even hurt a feeling for pleasure.”

“If he needs a million acres to make him feel rich, seems to me he needs it 'cause he feels awful poor inside hisself, and if he's poor in hisself, there ain't no million acres gonna make him feel rich, an' maybe he's disappointed that nothin' he can do 'll make him feel rich.”

“One day Samuel strained his back lifting a bale of hay, and it hurt his feelings more than his back, for he could not imagine a life in which Sam Hamilton was not privileged to lift a bale of hay. He felt insulted by his back, almost as he would have been if one of his children had been dishonest”

“He had an idea that even when beaten he could steal a little victory by laughing at defeat.”

“For how can you remember the feel of pleasure or pain or choking emotion? You can remember only that you had them.”

“chuckling—the sound he made when any force in the world defeated him. He had an idea that even when beaten he could steal a little victory by laughing at defeat.”

“He needs us like he needs a mud dauber's nest up his pant leg”