Fiftieth birthdays make many of us reflect on what we want to do with what’s left of our lives.
-- Stan Falkow (chapter 1 paragraph 3)

Importance: Professor Stan Falkow was explaining why he purchased a second home in Bitterroot Valley, Montana. It was a place where he could relax, pursue his love of fly-fishing and relieve his stress. It happened around his fiftieth birthday which was a pivotal point in his life.

Do not flush. Be like the mining industry and let someone else clean up your waste.
-- Sing on wall (chapter 1 paragraph 26)

Importance: A sign with the above message was posted over the toilet in the bathroom of a Montanan resident. It was a not-so-subtle commentary on how Montanans view mining industry and their negligence in not cleaning up their toxic waste.

The ghostly impression that the quarry made on me came from my sense of being in a factory, all of whose workers had suddenly quit for mysterious reasons, thrown...
-- Jared Diamond (chapter 2 paragraph 4)