“life ain't supposed to be nothing, 'cept maybe tough”

“You think it's so great to die and make everyone cry and carry on. Well it ain't.”

“I have been mocked by beauty, too. But it was the beauty which cost me nothing that in the end turned upon me.”

“...I just gave up trying to be a Christian... Let's face it, I ain't got the knack for holiness. Besides, I didn't have the slightest little desire to join the likes of Reverend Pelham at the dinner table for fourteen minutes, much less at the banquet table of Heaven eternally. Eternity is a mighty long time to be stuck with people who judge every word you say and think and condemn most of what you do. It struck me as pretty miserable company. And if Reverend Pelham was the kind of company God preferred to keep, well, I just hoped they'd be happy together.”

“Reading can be a road to freedom or a key to a secret garden, which, if tended, will transform all of life.”

“Sometimes it seemed to him that his life was delicate as a dandelion. One little puff from any direction, and it was blown to bits.”

“That was the rule that you never mixed up troubles at home with life at school. When parents were poor or ignorant or mean, or even just didn't believe in having a TV set, it was up to their kids to protect them.”