I notice how it takes a lazy man, a man that hates moving, to get set on moving once he does get started off, the same as when he was set on staying still, like it aint the moving he hates so much as the starting and the stopping. And like he would be kind of proud of whatever come up to make the moving or the setting still look hard. He set there on the wagon hunched up, blinking, listening to us tell about how quick the bridge went and how high the water was, and I be durn if he didn't act like he was proud of it, like he had made the river rise himself.

Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.

No man can cause more grief than that one clinging blindly to the vices of his ancestors.

Menfolks listens to somebody because of what he says. Women don't. They don't care what he said. They listens because of what he is.

Don't do what you can do - try what you can't do.

Try to be better than yourself.

To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi.