“Don't you be afraid of hurting the boy,' he says.”

“You mustn't be so afraid of life - it's all we've got. Don't let it hurt you so much.”

“The thing I am most afraid of is love. When you say you love someone you are giving them license to hurt you.”

“Don't be afraid. The dead cannot hurt you. They give you no pain, except that of seeing your own death in their faces. And one can face that, I find.”

“There are two-way words, like, it's okay for Curt Gowdy to say, "Roberto Clemente has two balls on him!" But he can't say, "I think he hurt his balls on that play, Tony, don't you?"”

“I was a little afraid of him; not the boy himself, but of what he seemed to be: the victim of the world.”

“And when boys are hurt, they hurt us—physically, psychologically, and economically.”

“Whatever you say, old boy. Just look after yourself. And whatever you do, don't swallow the gum!”

“Before you marry, you have to get shot by an arrow and fall in love,” the boy explained. He paused thoughtfully. “But I don’t think the rest of it hurts as much as the beginning.”

“It's easy to joke when you don't care any more. I'm not saying it didn't hurt me, because it did.”