“Yesterday's gone on down the river and you can't get it back.”

“Monkey John looked at the dead boy. "By God, life is cheap up here on the goddamned Canadian River.""Cheap," Blue Duck answered. "And it might get cheaper.”

“Jake, you’re a dern grasshopper,” Augustus said. “You ride in yesterday talking Montana, and today you’re talking California.”

“If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.”

“By the time the shade had reached the river, Augustus would have mellowed with the evening and be ready for some intelligent conversation, which usually involved talking to himself.”

“Deets slapped his leg and laughed, the thought was so funny. When the rest of the outfit finally wondered down from the house they found the two of them grinning back and forth at one another."Look at 'em," Augustus said. "You'd think they just discovered teeth.”

“Talk's the way to kill it. Anything gets boring if you talk about it enough, even death.”