We're a terribly lonesome society. For all I know, all societies are. You can make a few new friends, that's all. You can't change history. History is happening to us now.

I'm a painter in my dreams, you know.

My ancestors came over from Germany about the time of the Civil War and one of them lost a leg and went back to Germany.

If it weren't for the message of mercy and pity in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, I wouldn't want to be a human being. I would just as soon be a rattlesnake.

What's the point of being alive," she said, "if you're not going to communicate?

And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like "Poo-tee-weet?

But I have to say this in defense of humankind: In no matter what era in history, including the Garden of Eden, everybody just got here. And, except for the Garden of Eden, there were already all these games going on that could make you act crazy, even if you weren't crazy to begin with. Some of the crazymaking games going on today are love and hate, liberalism and conservatism, automobiles and credit cards, golf, and girls' basketball.