“There was no one to really argue with, but Mama managed it expertly every chance she had. She could argue with the entire world in that kitchen and almost every evening, she did.”

“They could argue for hours on almost any subject; they usually agreed on broad conclusions, but disagreed on almost every detail.”

“She had been so fiercely alive. She had spoken honestly, and lived with an honesty that few could claim to match. She had made the most of every minute she was given. She bargained and rationed and managed the seconds. She burned up the days.”

“Every girl would secretly want to be "the one" even though she might lie to herself that she did not.”

“In the morning when Mrs. Pollifax awoke she realized at once that a fateful day was beginning. She lay and thought about this dispassionately, almost wonderingly, because to every life there eventually came a moment when one had to accept the fact that the shape, the pattern, the direction of the future was entirely out of one's hands, to be decided unalterably by chance, by fate or by God. There was nothing to do but accept, and from this to proceed, doing the very best that could be done.”

“It could be argued that there is an element of entertainment in every pie, as every pie is inherently a surprise by virtue of its crust.”