- Jr: You're a writer the minute you say you are. Nobody gives you a diploma--you have to prove it, at least to yourself.
- Uncle Charlie: [from his hospital bed] Let me tell you something. It may be possible to kill me, but it is not easy.
- Uncle Charlie: [reaching for a book for college-bound JR] Read Orwell, on the lower-upper-middle classes. They're the ones who really suck. Once you understand that, you can operate in America. If you also have a car.