“She sighed, knowing she couldn't push it any further. "Thank you for being so... merciful," Allie said. "But I would appreciate it if Pea-brain here would keep his hands off me.""That's Pinhead," corrected the boy. "Pea-brain works in the engine room.”

“She could not explain or quite understand that it wasn't altogether jealousy she felt, it was rage. And not because she couldn't shop like that or dress like that. It was because that was what girls were supposed to be like. That was what men - people, everybody - thought they should be like. Beautiful, treasured, spoiled, selfish, pea-brained. That was what a girl should be, to be fallen in love with. Then she would become a mother and she'd be all mushily devoted to her babies. Not selfish anymore, but just as pea-brained. Forever.”

“A brain the size of a pea, cannot achieve what a brain the size of a melon can!!”

“Though my stomach is only the size of a pea, I could eat two politicians’ brains.”

“If you want to grow up to be a big, strong pea, you have to eat your candy," Papa Pea would say.”

“...I couldn't help wondering what would happen if the little pea-eating angel ever saw that scrapbook...can you imagine what the boy would think if he found out how exceptional and momentous his every move was in the life of his parents? Do you think he might develop a little bit of an overblown ego? I would be worried about that if I were the mom.”