“Well, you know Chick, like old momma said, next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing.”

“My goal in life is to get as old as I possibly can, to have as much fun as I possibly can, and then die.”

“Things are best that way, Deoga. Forgetting, not remembering. You Farangs become encumbered with your past. The past drives you mad. It keeps you from acting sensibly. ”

“Maybe he loves her. Maybe he wishes to have her forever, maybe he wishes that she could be his bride. Even then he might lose much to be with her-his properties, his position. But next to his love for her, what meaning do they have? He would be a fool to treasure dead gold more then a live heart.”

“Here in this old palace, untouched by the winds of change, here maybe some magic happens, for a little while. But the day must come when she will walk the road across the lake, and on that day, in the sad, heartless world on the other shore, you know it cannot last she is a slave. ”

“When was the last time you were with a man? In the Biblical sense.""I thought the Bible frowned on that."That made him chuckle. "You're talking to a preacher's son here. The Bible frowns on many things, and yet seems good on slavery and selling your daughters, so I'm thinking it's schizophrenic at best.”

“You play, you win, you play, you lose. You play. It’s the playing that’s irresistible. Dicing from one year to the next with the things you love, what you risk reveals what you value.”