“Then, there are the places you would rather not go-a tax collectors' convention, a sewage treatment plant, or maybe the home of someone who keeps spiders as pets and insists on taking them out of their cages and making you hold them.”
“Anyone who objects to any government whatsoever as a form of socialism ought not to pull that socialist lever in their home, the one that makes their waste disappear in a whirlpool into the socialized sewage treatment plant.”
“You can have a pet zebra and put that zebra into a small cage every day and tell the zebra that you love it, but no matter how you and the zebra love each other, the fact remains, that the zebra should be let out of that cage and should belong to someone who can treat it better, the way it should be treated, someone who can make it happy.”
“Are wild strawberries really wild?Will they scratch an adult, will they snap at a child?Should you pet them, or let them run free where they roam?Could they ever relax in a steam-heated home?Can they be trained to not growl at the guests?Will a litterbox work or would they make a mess?Can we make them a Cowberry, herding the cows,or maybe a Muleberry pulling the plows,or maybe a Huntberry chasing the grouse,or maybe a Watchberry guarding the house,and though they may curl up at your feet oh so sweetlycan you ever feel that you trust them completely?Or should we make a pet out of something less scary, like the Domestic Prune or the Imported Cherry, Anyhow, you've been warned and I will not be blamed if your Wild Strawberries cannot be tamed.”
“Be wary of strong drink, it can make you shoot at the tax collector...and miss.”
“Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.”