“I live in a small fictional town in Connecticut.”

“I suppose everybody has these softheaded spells, when they think it would be fun to live in a small town. They pass quickly, of course.”

“In small towns, news travels at the speed of boredom.”

“On my fifteenth birthday I'll run away from home, journey to a far-off town, and live in a corner of a small library. It'd take a week to go into the whole thing, all the details. So I'll just give the main point. On my fifteenth birthday I'll run away from home, journey to a far-off town, and live in a corner of a small library.”

“Is there a prince in this fable for a small town girl like me?”

“The need of the city is to accelerate growth; the pride of the small town is to retard it.”

“For younger girls living in any small town, it can be hard to move forward and get out. You are more than capable, the only thing stopping you is you.”

“I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.”

“This is the first time in my lifetime that a president has been from a city. From a place I would go. He's from Chicago; I love Chicago! I go there! Would I ever go to Wasilla, Alaska? Or Hope, Arkansas? Or Plains, Georgia? Or Crawford, Texas? Not on a bet! There's a reason small towns are small: no one wants to live there.”

“I live in a town, where you can't smell a thing”