“Everybody gets scared sometimes, May Belle. You don't have to be ashamed.”

“Cows...weren't like people, with feelings of lonesomeness and worrying about what might happen next. That was just people, wasn't it? Sure, you could scare a cow, but wouldn't they get over it as soon as you let them be? They didn't stand around fretting about the next scare and the next and the next. ”

“It's like the smarter you are, the more things can scare you.”

“It wasn't so much that he minded telling Leslie that he was afraid to go; it was that he minded being afraid. It was as though he had been made with a great piece missing - one of May Belle's puzzles with this huge gap where somebody's eye should have been. Lord, it would be better to be born without an arm than to go through life with no guts.”

“Sometimes you have to favor your heel, even if it means you're hurting your toe.”

“You have to believe it and you hate it. I don't have to and I think it's beautiful.”

“Everybody is somebobdy and I chanllenge anybody to deny it.”