“She ate her breakfast in silence, then drove downtown in weather so lowering the streetlights seemed decapitated. This was when you could discover if your preparations for winter were adequate, and if you were ready for the restrictions of movement and light that were about to be upon you.”

“They were unironic enthusiasts for all the mass pleasures the culture offered: television, NASCAR, cruises, Disney World, sports, celebrity gossip, and local politics.”

“We both liked children; we just didn't want any ourselves. There were children everywhere, and we saw no reason to start our own brand. Young couples plunge into parenthood and about half the time they end up with some ghastly problem on their hands. We thought we'd leave that to others.”

“I considered the wonder of the things that befell me, convinced that my life was the best omelet you could make with a chainsaw. -- Panama”

“By your late thirties the ground has begun to grow hard. It grows harder and harder until the day that it admits you.”

“It don't do you no nevermind to tell nobody nothing.”

“The occupational hazard of making a spectacle of yourself, over the long haul, is that at some point you buy a ticket too.”