“Ash held one finger up. "OK. Now listen-"Mary-Lynnette kicked him in the shins. She knew it was inapporopriate, she knew it was uncalled-for, but she couldn't stop herself. She just had to."Oh, for God's sake," Ash said, hopping backward. "Are you crazy?”

“Mary-Lynnette felt a violent wrench in her chest. For a moment everything seemed suspended-and changed.If Ash were dead-if Ash had been killed…Things would never be all right. She would never be all right. It would be like the night with the moon and stars gone. Nothing that anybody could do would make up for it. Mary-Lynnette didn't know why-it didn't make any sense-but she suddenly knew it was true.”

“Mary-Lynnette: "You have not read 'Pride and Prejudice'."Ash: "Why not?"Mary-Lynnette: "Because Jane Austen was a human."Ash: "How do you know?"Mary-Lynnette: "Well Jane Austen was a woman, and you're a chauvinist pig."Ash: "Yes, well, that I can't argue.”

“They knew each other. He knew her and so himself, for in truth he had never known himself. And she knew him and so herself, for although she had always known herself she had never been able to recognize it until now.”

“Is it good or bad?" she asked Issa. The wrong question, she knew. She just couldn't help herself."It's both, sweet girl," said Issa. "like everything.”

“Jake knew that his mother had a tendency to mistake rules, her rules, for principles. She did not bend because she did not have enough confidence to know when or how far. She did not listen well because one ear was always otherwise engaged - either listening to what she herself had just said or what she would say next.”