“By and large... the good's an illusion, little fables folks tell themselves so they can get through their days without screaming too much.”

“Fears locked in small brains are much too large to pass through the orifice of the mouth.”

“A library card is good to have, you can never have too much ID.”

“Fools are the only folk on the earth who can absolutely count on getting what they deserve.”

“The good folks mostly win, courage usually triumphs over fear, the family dog hardly ever contracts rabies: these are things I knew at twenty-five, and things I still know now, at the age of 25 x 2. But I know something else as well: there's a place in most of us where the rain is pretty much constant, the shadows are always long, and the woods are full of monsters. It is good to have a voice in which the terrors of such a place can be articulated and its geography partially described, without denying the sunshine and clarity that fill so much of our ordinary lives. (viii)”

“A person can go along quite awhile if they get a good day every once and again.”

“He struck his temples with his fists and screamed: 'Haven't you ever seen a goddam DC converter? You can get them at Radio Shack for three bucks! Are you seriously trying to tell me you couldn't have made a simple DC converter when you can make your tractor fly and your typewriter run on telepathy? Are you?'Nobody thought of it!' she screamed suddenly.”