All we have is the story we tell. Everything we do, every decision we make, our strength, weakness, motivation, history, and character-what we believe-none of it is real; it's all part of the story we tell.

— Jess Walter

All we have is the story we tell. Everything we do, every decision we make, our strength, weakness, motivation, history, and character--what we believe--none of it is real; it's all part of the story we tell. But here's the thing: it's our goddamned story!

— Jess Walter

Always speak first to the toughest person in the room.

— Jess Walter

Among the world's evils—fascism, ethnic cleansing, environmental degradation— smoking deserves the most severe curricular attention in my kid's school.

— Jess Walter

And while his mother's lecture had gone over his seven-year-old head, Pasquale saw now what she meant--how much easier life would be if our intentions and our desires could always be aligned.

— Jess Walter

But it's not easy, realizing how we fucked it all up. And that turns out to be the hardest thing to live with, not the regret or the fear, but the realization that the edge is so close to where we live.

— Jess Walter

Erhaps it was the difference in age between the countries—America with its expansive youth, building all those drive-in movie theaters and cowboy restaurants; Italians living in endless contraction, in the artifacts of generations, in the bones of empires.

— Jess Walter

He considered it a shame when people couldn't grasp the infinite-a failure not just of imagination but of simple vision.

— Jess Walter

He found himself inhabiting the vast, empty plateau where most people live, between boredom and contentment.

— Jess Walter

Here for business or pleasure, Mr. Wheeler?"" Redemption," Shane says.

— Jess Walter