“Sometimes the world is so beautiful it hurts.”

“Life is absolutely, mysteriously beautiful.”

“The way I figure it, we know we got this world, so live in this one while you’re here. I figure the next one will take care of itself.”

“The Shy Hunter is terrified that others will destroy the truth within his heart, Rose said, And so the Shy Hunter armours himself ... thus armoured, he watches and waits and studies the world meticulously, hunting the world for prey ... Prey not in the sense of devouring or murder, Rose said, But prey in the sense of hunting for sore truths within another human heart.”

“For the most part, I'd say if you crossed a cat with a smart dog, made him a matriarchal vegetarian, gave him sleek beauty, a mass of muscle, and the desire to run, then what you'd have is a horse.”

“Books are in the mind, Grandfather Alessandro said. Too many books and you forget your body is in the world.”

“So I'm smoking in the house, Mother said. And Bobbie's got a dog in her room. And your son Will's got an Injun in his. So there it is, Mother said. Like it or lump it!”