“A diamond is a piece of coal that stuck to the job.”

“Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs.”

“Dr. Clair looked at Layton. The mancala pieces were still in her hand.If Angela Ashforth ever says anything like that to you again, you tell her that just because she's insecure about being a little girl in a society that puts an inordinate amount of pressure on little girls to live up to certain physical, emotional and ideological standards -- many of which are improper, unhealthy and self-perpetuating -- doesn't mean she has to take her misplaced self-loathing out on a nice boy like you. You may be inherently a part of the problem but that doesn't mean you aren't a nice boy with nice manners and it certainly doesn't mean you have AIDS."I'm not sure I can remember all that," Layton said.Well then, tell Angela that her mother is a white trash drunk from Butte.”

“One of your many jobs as manager is information conduit, and the rules are deceptively simple: for each piece of information you see, you must correctly determine who on your team needs that piece of information to do their job.”

“Without a whole lot of pressure, a diamond is just a piece of coal.”

“She hated to admit that money was the most serious difficulty. Knowing full well that it was important, she nevertheless rebelled at the unalterable truth that it could influence her actions, block her desires. A sordid necessity to be grappled with.”

“One cannot spend one's entire life running into bathrooms when danger calls!”