“San: You all right?Virt: I think i crapped myself a littleSam: Just a little? you've got nerves of steel.”

“You've got rights. Lots of rights. Sometimes I count them just to make myself feel crazy.”

“You've got a lotta nerve to say you are my friend. When I was down you just stood there a grinin”

“I didn't want it to be this way." "Yes, you did," she said, "because it is.""I just want to be with someone normal," he said. "I just want to have a normal life.""Excuse me," she said."You're a little crazy," he said. "You're too old to act the way you do. You've got to grow up. You've got to take care of yourdelf. I'm afraid for you. You can't think that people are going to take care of you all the time.”

“You can make it all right if you will only be satisfied to remain small,' I told myself. I had to keep saying it over and over to myself. 'Be little. Don't try to be big. Work under the guns. Be a little worm in the fair apple of life.' I got all of these sayings at my tongue's end, used to go through the streets of Chicago muttering them to myself.”

“Where did I get the nerve to think I could handle American teenagers? Ignorance. That's where I got the nerve.”