“I sit in the subway sometimes, on buses, or the movies, and I look at the people next to me and I think… 'What would you say if I told you I was a witch?'”

– Queenie

“Three days ago, at exactly 0600 – because that is really not the time – on February 5 – because that is really not the date – this freighter, which shall be nameless, sailed from a certain Far Eastern port. Its destination: The Port of Los Angeles, Wilmington, California. This is fact.”

– narrator

“You don't think I sat there all evening with an eight-foot mamba in my pocket?”

– Eric Gorman

“There's nary a conspiracy. And if I'm right about this, it's a far older sin than politics.”

– Adrian Messenger

“A thousand men, say, go searchin' for gold. After six months, one of them's lucky: one out of a thousand. His find represents not only his own labor, but that of nine hundred and ninety-nine others to boot. That's six thousand months, five hundred years, scramblin' over a mountain, goin' hungry and thirsty. An ounce of gold, mister, is worth what it is because of the human labor that went into the findin' and the gettin' of it.”

– Howard

“Got a lot to write about today. You.”

– Millie Lammoreaux

“Mother, didn't you know there are children starving in Africa?”

– “Karen Carpenter”

“What a lucky clown you are! You don't have to wipe off your laugh.”

“Play straight, baby.”

– John Shaft