“Git up and hump yourself, Jim! There ain't a minute to lose. They're after us!”

“Losing someone you love is harder. One minute they're there, the next they're gone. There were times I wished they would rise up from the dead.”

“You'll find that marriage is a good short cut to the truth. No, not quite that. A way of doubling back to the truth. Another thing you'll find is that the years of illusion aren't those of adolescence, as the grown-ups try to tell us; they're the ones immediately after it, say the middle twenties, the false maturity if you like, when you first get thoroughly embroiled in things and lose your head. Your age, by the way, Jim. That's when you first realize that sex is important to other people besides yourself. A discovery like that can't help knocking you off balance for a time.”

“What do you think they're going to do to us when they find us guilty?" she says after a few minutes of silence have passed."Honestly?""Does now seem like the time for honesty?"I look at her from the corner of my eye. "I think they're going to force us to eat lots of cake and then take an unreasonably long nap.”

“I know you're a fool, Jim Hardy, but for heaven's sake pretend you're not for five minutes.”

“You don't have anything to lose by standing up for yourself,' Nando said. 'But you can lose yourself by trying to please everyone.”