“Oh, but I like my geese. Like cats, they can't be told what to do, and like dogs, they're loyal, and like people, they talk every chance they get.”

“You, uh, caught me there at an unladylike moment. Mrs. Wattlesbrook would probably box my ears.""That's why I spoke. I wanted to let you know you were not alone before you did something--something worse.""Like what?""Whatever women do when they think they're alone.”

“I do like the world quite a lot.”

“Saying my story makes me want to change it, make it sound pretty the way I do with the stories I tell the workers. I'd like it to have a beginning as grand as a ball and an ending in a whisper, like a mother tucking in a child for sleep.”

“Just like the old adage--what you dislike most in other people is what you dislike the most in yourself--”

“What should I say? That I like him so much it hurts?”

“Sometimes my fancy gets to floating inside me, threatening to carry me away like a leaf on a wind. Better to be a stone.”