Why couldnt she stop talking? Did all lonely people have that problem? — Richard Yates

"she talked less, or at least did less of the kind of talking whose only purpose was to fill silence"

"I had read [ Flauberts Madame Bovary ] before but hadnt studied it the way Id studied Gatsby and other books; now it seemed ideally suited to serve as a guide, if not a model, for the novel that was taking shape in my mind. I wanted that kind of balance and quiet resonance on every page, that kind of foreboding mixed with comedy, that kind of inexorable destiny in the heart of a lonely, romantic girl. And all of it, of course, would have to be done with an F. Scott Fitzgerald kind of freshness and grace."

"Another thing I have always liked about both Gatsby and Bovary, [Yates] wrote, "is that there are no villains in either one. The force of evil is felt in these novels but is never personified—neither novel is willing to let us off that easily."

"Well, marriage is funny, Mike", Harold said once with the wind whipping the vapor of his voice over his shoulder. "You can go along for years without ever knowing who youre married to. Its a riddle." "Youre right," Michael said. "It is." "Then maybe once in a while you take a look at this girl, this woman, and you think: Whats the deal? How come? Why her? Why me?" "Yeah, I know what you mean, Harold."

"twelve years [after short story "Jody Rolled the Bones" was published] [Yates] got [a letter] from Colonel Roger Little of the Office of Military Psychology and Leadership: "Jody", wrote Little, had long been used "as a reference . . . because it is such a sensitive portrayal of the basic trainees perception of the noncommissioned officer."

"And from this distance they all did look like kids - boys and girls from far and wide with their cheap hand luggage and their Army duffel bags, brave entertainers who might travel for years before it occurred to them, or to most of them, that they werent going anywhere."