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Page 107: "'let's burn another one.'
'Ain't happening,' Eddie mumbled. 'They're already pissed off aout one. Wanna know why we can't use a twenty.'
Mott erupted, 'We can't use a fucking twenty because Ben Franklin's on the hundred!' He took a breath. 'And you see right there how that Puritan killjoy tight-ass Ben Franklin has infected the American mind.' He minced in a searing falsetto, 'A penny saved is a penny earned,' then boomed, 'Well, fuck that shit. A penny blown is a penny enjoyed.'"
Page 133: "'Put it back,' Willie hissed.
Daniel thought willie was kidding and didn't even pause as he stuffed the sheaf of bills and an ounce baggie of cocaine into his pocket.
'Daniel,' Willie roared, 'did you fail to hear me or fail to understand? Put it back. We're practicing.'
'Be serious,' Daniel pleaded. 'If we get busted, is that what we tell the cops--it's okay, officer we're just practicing.'
'We don't tell the cops shit, ever. And we don't steal unless it's necessary. And we harken to Salinius's observation that 'the great enemies of honor are greed and convience.'"
Page 134: Volta: I've never been a foe of sweet confoundings. After all, who's to say what the lesson is unless you learn it.
Willie: You're shameless! You stole that from sophocles!
Volta: William, as T. S. Eliot said, "A good poet borrows; a great poet steals."
Page 140: "'I tell ya Daniel, there's no sure thing. Why, I as in a big-stakes Five-Card Draw game in Waco--we were playing with the joker--and I saw a hand with five aces get beat for everything the guy had.'
'Wait a minute', Daniel said, 'nothing can beat five aces. What'd the other guy have in his hand?'
'A Smith and Wesson. A thirty-eight, I believe.'"
Page 143: "Bad Bobby told Daniel that a friend, a famous stock-car driver, had told him what he considered the greatest danger of racing: 'When you're driving hard out on the edge, and the love of speed comes over you so true and deep and real, you don't want to slow down. You know you ought to. But you're locked into something so awesome and consuming you can't back off. It's always the same--the faster you go the less you care about being able to stop. Ever.'
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