“Sixty-four has a way of forgetting what twenty-one was like.”

“Whenever anything happens in America, they have to gold-plate it, like baby shoes. That way you can forget it.”

“As Wendy watched them they burst into a chord of tinkling, girlish laughter. She felt a smile touch her own lips; not one of them could be under sixty.”

“Man has come to dominate the planet thanks to two essential traits. One is intelligence. The other has been the absolute willingness to kill anyone and anything that gets in his way.”

“Leave it at this: man has come to dominate the planet thanks to two essential traits. One is intelligence. The other has been the absolute willingness to kill anyone and anything that get in his way.”

“The first thing was to get down to Addie Richardson's henhouse, and that was a goodish way, four or five miles. She found herself wondering if the Lord was going to send her an eagle to fly her those four miles, or send Elijah in his fiery chariot to give her a lift.Blasphemy," she told herself complacently. "The Lord provides strength, not taxicabs.”

“When you put on a clown suit and a rubber nose, nobody has any idea what you look like inside.”