“In my day you got married and spent one holiday with one set of in-laws and another with the others. None of this bonding business.”

“My room was in one of those turrets and at night I could hear the sea and the faint rustle of eelgrass in the soft wind. The weather was perfect that summer. No storms. Blue skies and just the right amount of wind every day. The sailors were in heaven.”

“Talking with friends about books harks back to the original impulse behind storytelling, the forging of human bonds. We have told ourselves stories not just, in Joan Didion's phrase, in order to live, but in order to live with one another.”

“I knew Denver was sincere when he told me that he would not want to trade places with me for even one day. His convictions became clear to me when I laid my key ring on the table between us at one of our earlier meetings for coffee.Denver smiled a bit and sidled up to a cautious question. 'I know it ain't none of my business, but does you own somethin' that each one of those keys fits?'I glanced at the keys; there were about ten of them. 'I suppose,' I replied, not really ever having thought about it.'Are you sure you own them, or does they own you?'That wisdom stuck to my brain like duct tape. The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced we'd enjoy life a whole lot more if we owned a whole lot less.”

“When you’re married, you’re privy to the misunderstanding. When you’re not married, it’s overrated.” I try to smile. “You rush in, headlong, full of dreams and wishes, so far removed from reality that you never even realize you’ve married into a family and the Navy. One refers to you as the girl from L.A., and the other refers to you as the dependent spouse.”

“Any man who has got himself set over others and don't have any responsibility to something bigger than him is a son of a bitch.”

“If you fishin' for a friend you just gon' catch and release, then I ain't got no desire to be your friend..."But if you is lookin' for a real friend, then I'll be one. Forever.”