In all the working systems, she thought, the weakness was always yourself - that spot of gristle in the gears. It applied on every level - even the a… - Robert Stone

When you get too far from Madison, Wisconsin, it gets unsanitary," Tom Zecca said. "The people get funny-looking and it's hot."
"My grandfather," Tom Zecca told them, "always said to me - kid, you don't know how lucky you are to live in America. Back there it's all shit. You take your hat off and you eat dirt. Here you got it made.

You goin' to get killed one time, you know that?
"You don't never get out of this world alive.

A little cinder in the wind, Pablo - that's what you are."
"Everybody's worth something," Pablo said. "I mean - everybody's life got some meaning to it. You know - there's a reason for people."
"No kidding? A reason for you? What is it?"
"I don't know," Pablo confessed. "I ain't found out yet. But I know there is one.