"He paused for a moment and grinned. Then he glanced around the room and added, 'Frankly, Your Honor, I'm probably the smartest person I know.'" p. 8

"But there is something about Florida more seductive and inescapable than almost anywhere else I've ever been. It can look brand-new and man-made, but as soon as you see a place like the Everglades or the Big Cypress Swamp or the Loxahatchee you realize that Florida is also the last of the American frontier." p.9

"Many things he said were incredible or staggering or cracked or improbable, but they were never boring. The current of his mind and behavior was more riptide than rivulet. I didn't care all that much whether what he said was true or not; I just found the flow irresistible." p. 29

"If the ghost orchid was really only a phantom it was still such a bewitching one...