“I had to be self-contained, a kind of casual turtle carrying his house on his back.”

“Today a child told Santa Ken that he wanted his dead father back and a complete set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Everyone wants those Turtles.”

“See the TURTLE of enormous girth! On his shell he holds the earth. His thought is slow but always kind; He holds us all within his mind. On his back all vows are made; He sees the truth but may not said. He loves the land and loves the sea, And even loves a child like me”

“His face contained for me all possibilities of fierceness and sweetness, pride and submissiveness, violence, self-containment. I never saw more in it than I had when I saw it first, because I saw everything then. The whole thing in him that I was going to love, and never catch or explain.”

“A man's body is as the shell, or the tablet, of his soul, as he is reserved or ingenuous, overflowing or self-contained.”

“Now about this turtle. I think I’m gonna name it Oliver.”“Why’s that?”“Because he’s leaving little turtle poop ‘Oliver’ his terrarium.”