Boomer had asked her once, in a telephone call from Virginia, “Why does this stuff, these hand-painted hallucinations that don’t do nothin’ but confuse the puddin’ out of a perfectly reasonable wall, why does it mean so much to you?” It was a poor connection, but he could have sworn he heard her say, “In the haunted house of life, art is the only stair that doesn’t creak.

— Tom Robbins

But do we know how to make love stay?' I can't even think about it. The best I can do is play it day by day.

— Tom Robbins

But man by his nature is an unnatural animal. If any creature stands a chance of defeating death, it is man.

— Tom Robbins

But why diminish your soul being run-of-the-mill at something? Mediocrity: now there is ugliness for you. Mediocrity's a hairball coughed up on the Persian carpet of Creation.

— Tom Robbins

Conversation between a princess and an outlaw: "If I stand for fairy-tale balls and dragon bait--dragon bait--what do you stand for?"" Me? I stand for uncertainty, insecurity, bad taste, fun, and things that go boom in the night."" Franky, it seems to me that you've turned yourself into a stereotype."" You may be right. I don't care. As any car freak will tell you, the old models are the most beautiful, even if they aren't the most efficient. People who sacrifice beauty for efficiency get what they deserve."" Well, you may get off on being a beautiful stereotype, regardless of the social consequences, but my conscience won't allow it." "And I goddamn refuse to be dragon bait. I'm as capable of rescuing you as you are of rescuing me."" I'm an outlaw, not a hero. Furthermore, I never intended to rescue you. We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.

— Tom Robbins

Cries for help are frequently inaudible.

— Tom Robbins

Death is impatient and thoughtless. It barges into your room when you are right in the middle of something, and it doesn't bother to wipe its boots.

— Tom Robbins

...disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business....

— Tom Robbins

Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.

— Tom Robbins

Disorder is inherent in stability. Civilized man doesn't understand stability. He's confused it with rigidity. Our political and economic and social leaders drool about stability constantly. It's their favorite word, next to 'power.' 'Gotta stabilize the political situation in Southeast Asia, gotta stabilize oil production and consumption, gotta stabilize student opposition to the government' and so forth. Stabilization to them means order, uniformity, control. And that's a half-witted and potentially genocidal misconception. No matter how thoroughly they control a system, disorder invariably leaks into it. Then the managers panic, rush to plug the leak and endeavor to tighten the controls. Therefore, totalitarianism grows in viciousness and scope. And the blind pity is, rigidity isn't the same as stability at all. True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed.

— Tom Robbins