“Why didn’t they just toss the kid in her crib?”“You haven’t been around many kids, have you?”“Not safe. They smell too good, like tasty snacks.”

“But instead of going to the message machine, Enoch picked up.“What the hell?” Danny couldn't believe it. There was a moment of silence, then Enoch said, "Danny?""When do you sleep?""When you don't call.”

“I'm getting the knack of this," she said. "I take the food out, and you fix it."He grinned. "That's your idea of learning to cook?”

“Insurance for what?”“Life insurance?”“Which life?”“Medical coverage?”“I heal myself.”“Never mind.”

“There is no reason why you should be bored when you can be otherwise. But if you find yourself sitting in the hedgerow with nothing but weeds, there is no reason for shutting your eyes and seeing nothing, instead of finding what beauty you may in the weeds. To put it cynically, life is too short to waste it in drawing blanks. Therefore, it is up to you to find as many pictures to put on your blank pages as possible.”

“Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.”

“I tell the kids that, even in a childhood marked by despair and deprivation, I knew that no matter what happened, I still had my family, or at least the remnants of a family ripped apart by divorce and then glued back together in various odd arrangements through a series of ill- advised remarriages. It was good to know I had a solid foundation.”