- May McGorvey: You're a miracle, Ronnie. We're all miracles. Know why? Because as humans, every day we go about our business, and all that time we know... we all know... that the things we love... the people we love, at any time now can all be taken away. We live knowing that and we keep going anyway. Animals don't do that.
- Sarah Pierce: I think I understand your feelings about this book. I used to have some problems with it, myself. When I read it in grad school, Madam Bovary just seemed like a fool. She marries the wrong man; makes one foolish mistake after another; but when I read it this time, I just fell in love with her. She's trapped! She has a choice: she can either accept a life of misery or she can struggle against it. And she chooses to struggle.
- Mary Ann: Some struggle. Hop into bed with every guy who says hello.
- Sarah Pierce: She fails in the end, but there's something beautiful and even heroic in her rebellion. My professors would kill me for even thinking this, but in her own strange way, Emma Bovary is a feminist.
- Mary Ann: Oh, that's nice. So now cheating on your husband makes you a feminist?
- Sarah Pierce: No, no, it's not the cheating. It's the hunger. The hunger for an alternative, and the refusal to accept a life of unhappiness.
- Mary Ann: Maybe I didn't understand the book!
- [last lines]
- Narrator: In his wildest dreams Larry would never have imagined he'd once again be in this position, where precious minutes count. Tonight he could save a life. He knew Ronnie had done some bad things in the past, but so had Larry. You couldn't change the past. But the future could be a different story. And it had to start somewhere.
- Narrator: Sexual tension is an elusive thing, but Kathy had pretty good radar for it. It was like someone had turned a knob to the right, and the radio station clicked in so loud and clear it almost knocked her over. Once she became aware of the connection between them, it seemed impossible that she'd missed it before.
- [Brad and Sarah are having sex]
- Brad Adamson: Do you feel bad about this?
- Sarah Pierce: No, I don't.
- Brad Adamson: I do. I feel really bad.
- Brad Adamson: You have a nice place here.
- Sarah Pierce: You think? Yeah, Richard does pretty well for himself.
- Brad Adamson: Oh, yeah? What's he do?
- Sarah Pierce: He lies.
- Brad Adamson: [talking about his wife] She makes documentaries.
- Sarah Pierce: Oh, like Michael Moore?
- Brad Adamson: Like PBS.
- Ronald James McGorvey: She's gone.
- Sarah Pierce: Who... who's gone?
- Ronald James McGorvey: Mommy's gone. Mommy died.
- Mary Ann: Oh that's nice. So now cheating on your husband makes you a feminist?
- Sarah Pierce: No, no, no. It's not the cheating. It's the hunger - the hunger for an alternative and the refusal to accept a life of unhappiness.
- May McGorvey: [Helping Ronnie get ready for his date] There, you look handsome. She won't be disappointed.
- Ronald James McGorvey: Yeah, wait till she hears about my criminal record.
- May McGorvey: There are four columns of lonely women in here, and only one of lonely men. The odds are on our side. Now why wouldn't any of these women want to meet a nice person like you?
- Ronald James McGorvey: I'm not a nice person.
- Narrator: Only someone who took his own beauty for granted would have been able to say something so stupid and with a straight face.
- Mary Ann: [the mothers are discussing Ronnie] He should just be castrated. Just snip, quick and easy.
- Sarah Pierce: [sarcastically] You know what else you should do? Nail his penis above the entrance to the elementary school. That'd really teach him a lesson.