Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough.

Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose.

Most men wear their belts low here, there being so many outstanding bellies, some big enough to have names of their own and be formally introduced.

I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it.

Where I come from, when a Catholic marries a Lutheran it is considered the first step on the road to Minneapolis.

Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose.

"You know," she said, "there's a recipe for macaroni and cheese I've always been meaning to try. It's the one where you boil up about three pounds of macaroni, and then you grate cheese on it. It only takes about three minutes."

In Lake Wobegon, we don't forget mistakes.

Before the world was made, when it was only darkness and mist and waters, God was well aware of Lake Wobegon, my family, our house, and He had me all sketched out down to what size my feet would be (big), which bike I would ride (Schwinn), and the five ears of corn I'd eat for supper that night.

Blue laws once frowned on Sunday labor, also loud recreation, unseemly dress, and any "deportment inconsistent with proper reverence," and those laws still frown but do it in private, in the book of old ordinances, in a section unread for many years.