“Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...”

“The past always seems better when you look back on it than it did at the time. And the present never looks as good as it will in the future.”

“Brody felt a shimmy of fear skitter up his back. He was a very poor swimmer, and the prospect of being on top of—let alone in—water above his head give him what his mother used to call the wimwams: sweaty palms, a persistent need to swallow, and a ache in his stomach—essentially the sensation some people feel about flying. In Brody's dreams, deep water was populated by slimy, savage things that rose from below and shredded his flesh, by demons that cackled and moaned.”

“Look, Chief, you can't go off half-cocked looking for vengeance against a fish. That shark isn't evil. It's not a murderer. It's just obeying its own instincts. Trying to get retribution against a fish is crazy.”

“The great fish moved silently through the night water.”

“Writing is sweat and drudgery most of the time. And you have to love it in order to endure the solitude and the discipline.”

“You're gonna need a bigger boat.”