“Life ain't fair.It ain't.Not never.”

“Schooling ain't life.""Ain't it?" she says, her eyebrows raising in mock surprise.”

“But a knife ain't just a thing, is it? It's a choice, it's something you do. A knife says yes or no, cut or not, die or don't. A knife takes a decision out of your hand and puts it in the world and it never goes back again. ”

“When luck ain't with you, it's against you.”

“I was just trying to stay alive, looking for ways to find you, hoping you hadn't left me behind.""Never," I say. "Not never."He looks back up at me. "I'd never leave you neither.""You promise?""Cross my heart, hope to die," he says, grinning shyly."I promise, too," I say and I smile at him. "I ain't never leaving you, Todd Hewitt, not never again.”

“There ain't nothing good that don't got real bad waiting to follow it.”

“The lesson of forever and ever is that knowing a man's mind ain't knowing the man.”