“My daughter," I said blankly. "I see. Correct me if I am wrong, but I thoughtit took a man, as well as a woman, to make a child. Is this infant's father tobe a crab, or a seagull maybe? Or were you planning to shipwreck some likelysailor on my doorstep, so I can make convenient use of him?”

“I start thinking that maybe God’s plan is I make him more of a man and less of a boy. “I think I was wrong. Some men will always be boys.”"I start thinking that maybe God’s plan is I make him more of a man and less of a boy." “I think I was wrong. Some men will always be boys.”

“I am a woman who slept with my father the Pope.They say I did, at least, and so does he.And who am I to make of the Pope a liar,And who is he to make a liar of me?”

“I said you. Take you, my daughter. Because I saw the tall man see you as a human child, not pieces of eight.”

“I can't be anything but what I am, Elle. If you want a man who is going to treat you like a broken doll, you sure as hell come to the wrong place. And if you expect me to step aside and let you make decisions that are ultimately going to harm you, then baby, you definitely have the wrong man because I protect my woman. Right or wrong, politically correct or not, I stand in front of her when there's need.”

“What am I supposed to think, when you imagine me pure as the driven snow? I am not a child. If you strip me of the responsibility for my decisions, you strip me of the capacity to make them, as well. I am not a kitten, to be rescued from the jaws of a wolf. I'm a grown woman. And it is not your place to solve my problems without asking me for my opinion.”