“Then, Holden, the little Fang gang kid, came out of nowhere with an apparent death wish. He raced directly toward the maniac with the gun shrieking something that sounded like”

“echo, the death of a sound that had nowhere to go but to come back.”

“Everything one does in life, even love, occurs in an express train racing toward death. To smoke opium is to get out of the train while it is still moving. It is to concern oneself with something other than life or death.”

“"The kids out there want something they can relate to, something that's real; most of that whiny stuff isn't real. The cheesy pop songs just bore me to death." (commenting on how he feels about rock and pop.)”

“Fang? Are you- like Max?" asked Dr. Martinez.
"Nope,"he said, sounding bored. "I'm the smart one."
I resisted the urge to kick him in the shin.”

“That body is still new to her, she's still trying it out, thinking it through, a bit like a kid walking the streets with a loaded gun and deciding whether he's packing it to protect himself or to begin a life of crime.”

“I wish you love - and happiness
I guess I wish - you all the best
I wish you don't - do like I do
And never fall in love with someone like you
Cause if you fell - just like I did
You'd probably walk around the block like a little kid
But kids don't know - they can only guess...”

“…death came so easily, hardly announced, without apparent cause, often greeted with smiles.”

“Jesus, you've got a death wish."
"Right now I have a bathroom-and-sleep-somewhere safe wish, kid.”

“Oh yeah
In France a skinny man
Died of a big disease with a little name
By chance his girlfriend came across a needle
And soon she did the same
At home there are seventeen-year-old boys
And their idea of fun
Is being in a gang called The Disciples
High on crack, totin' a machine gun.”