Dora Waage's Scottish toast:

"Here's to us
Who's like us?
Damn few
and they're all dead."

Rat's Country: Ground squirrels

Ground squirrels.  They never do more than perch on the edge of their holes, then go beneath the earth to breed bad ideas.

Rat's Country: You two had a head-on collision

You two had a head-on collision.  You met at an intersection of your life and hers.

Rat's Country: So much of her life is behind closed doors

So much of her life is behind closed doors that I am startled when she appears on the porch and says, "Do come in.  Please stay for lunch.  Have I told you about this wonderful place where I found old Hollywood sets?  What should I do with my hair?"

Rat's Country: Puns intended (no small feat)

I am looking at my daughter's feet and they are similar to my feet.  My feet are similar to my mother's feet, but she did not invent these high-arched, lovely feet.  Her feat is that she can make us feel as though she is solely responsible.

Rat's Country: Usually, when I first sit at my desk to write

Usually, when I first sit at my desk to write, I don’t have anything to say, like the moment when concert pianist seats himself at the piano bench, flipping the tails of his tuxedo and poising his hands above the keys. 

I love that instant of tension, space, silence, before  his hands come down on the keys,  filling the concert hall with sound.  In that moment before he begins, he must trust that something will come.

Rat's Country: I will tell you what you are feeling

I will tell you what you are feeling.  That way I won't  be afraid that you might be feeling something I don't  understand.

Rat's Country: He was not blinded by love...

He was not blinded by love.  He was blinded by his need for love.