“A piece of advice his father had given him surfaced in Edgar's mind. Sometimes, he had said, it's better just to keep quiet and think with your heart.”

“Catherine Le Vendeur," he asked sententiously, "have you known this man carnally?""No father," Catherine answered. "But, with your kind permission, I would very much like to.”

“Whatever you are seeking is also seeking you.”

“You got to stand soaked to the bone in a rainstorm and fill up your buckets with all the water heaven has given up,' Jenniemae said. 'Then when the sun comes out, you will have your savings and never find yourself thirsty. That's how it is.”

“It's all been a bad joke that just ran out of control. I got into food for fun but the business got a mind of its own. Now - my good Lord - look where it has gotten me. My products are on supermarket shelves, in cinemas, in the theater. And they say show business is odd.”

“He says nothing, vehemently. I falter away and we sit, mutually staring into the fouled water. ...With time to kill, I ponder dismally the possible derivation of the zombie myth from people like my boyfriend. I picture Ralph blackened, semi-fingered, with bright bone peeking through his flesh. The odd small worm clings, festively wiggling. In my image, Ralph's really upset about decaying, and I feel for him sorrowfully. I want to tell him I would still love him, if he were decomposed. Of course in practice there is no predicting what I'd feel, and besides which, it's a wild associative leap.I ponder dismally how I've alienated people, all my life, with my bizarre associative leaps. ”

“A great memory does not make a mind, any more than a dictionary is a piece of literature.”