“Where had he been? Drinking, obviously. Then she started cataloging all the ways he was worthless. On fool impulse, as his most potent available argument against Lily, Bud stuck his hands into his ...”

“The flame of urgent coupling burned hottest against the woman, no matter how romantic and high and heartsick the anguish of the man might be pitched in retrospect.”

“Still, Luce held firm to the belief that quiet and solitude were good for you, offering peace, or at least hope for peace.”

“His best talent had yet to be determined, unless you counted unrealized potential.”

“How embarrassing that she ever did something that silly. But, good God, she was seventeen. At that age, we're mostly high-pitched and crazy. All urgent chemicals raging around the blood course. And...”

“Fuel your life with passion.”

“We are pathfinders on a mission, Beholders following the Light, Runners gunning for the prize and Fighters remaining focused...You have been described, do not accept any other description!”

“So - people a thousand years from now...This is the way we were: in our growing up and in our marrying and in our living and in our dying.”