The people say that the two seemed to be removed from human experience; that they had gone through pain and had come out on the other side.

The techniques of opening conversation are universal. I knew long ago and rediscovered that the best way to attract attention, help, and conversation is to be lost. A man who seeing his mother starving to death on a path kicks her in the stomach to clear the way, will cheerfully devote several hours of his time giving wrong directions to a total stranger who claims to be lost.

The sale of souls to gain the whole world is completely voluntary and almost unanimous...but not quite.

Sir, this is a unique dog. He does not live by tooth or fang. He respects the right of cats to be cats although he doesn't admire them. He turns his steps rather than disturb an earnest caterpillar. His greatest fear is that someone will point out a rabbit and suggest that he chase it. This is a dog of peace and tranquility.

It is possible, even probable, to be told a truth about a place, to accept it, to know it and at the same time not to know anything about it.

And you know what it is? San Francisco a golden handcuff with the key thrown away.

At one point, as Samuel urges Adam to raise his boys well regardless of the blood that might be in them, Adam tells him, "You can't make a race horse of a pig." Samuel replies, "No, but you can make a very fast pig.