Just posted this under "Thoughts" discussion, but "gems" may be better venue...

[About Mr. Fruit, an eccentric man, out of touch with reality who directed traffic at his own whim, ignoring the lights in downtown Colleton….] 

There was a time when a new deputy tried to teach Mr. Fruit about the difference between a red and a green light, but Mr. Fruit had resisted all efforts to reorder what he had been doing perfectly well for many years.  He had not only monitored the comings and goings of the town, his presence softened the ingrained evil that flourished along the invisible margins of the town’s consciousness.  Any community can be judged in its humanity or corruption by how it manages to accommodate the Mr. Fruits of the world.  Colleton simply adjusted itself to Mr. Fruit’s harmonies and ordinations.  He did whatever he felt was needed and he did it with style.  “That’s the Southern way” my grandmother said.  “That’s the nice way.”

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- Pat Conroy (Excerpt from Prince of Tides)

"The Importance of Being Ernest" 

"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train. "

• "The Importance of Being Ernest" Gwendolen, Act II

"To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness. "

• Lady Bracknell, Act I

"The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame."

Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss....but every once in a while you find someone who's iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare.                  "Chet" in the novel FLIPPED by Wendelin Van Draanen