Ernestine: People are just getting dumber, but more opinionated.
Steena Paulsson: I want to spend my life with you.
Young Coleman Silk: What are you doing Sunday?
Nathan Zuckerman: I'm writing a book... it's called 'The Human Stain'.
Mrs. Silk: Funny, I never thought of you as black or white. Golden, you were my golden child.
Mrs. Silk: Coleman, you think like a prisoner. You're white as snow and you think like a slave.
Faunia Farley: Action is the enemy of thought.
Nathan Zuckerman: Coleman, every mistake a man can make usually has a sexual accelerator. The things that restore you can also destroy you.