- Mike Milligan: And isn't that a minor miracle? The state of the world today and the level of conflict and misunderstanding, that two men could stand on a lonely road in winter and talk calmly and rationally... while all around them, people are losing their mind.
- Dodd Gerhardt: Fought in the trenches in France - World War I. He was an artillerieschuetzen, my granddad, a gunner. Blasted mustard gas at the Allies. Had them dancing like poisoned rats. Brits caught him in a raid, hung him by his thumbs for six days straight. So this, what we're doing, this is nothing. Are you listening to me?... Is he listening to me?
- Hanzee Dent: Cut off his ears.
- Dodd Gerhardt: Wake him up.
- Hanzee Dent: He's dead, I think.
- Dodd Gerhardt: Weak.
- Mike Milligan: [Using the typewriter to write a complaint] Dear General Electric, the coffee maker that I bought at Sears on 11 March makes a noise when it's brewing that sounds like a fat man having a heart attack. Stop! And it forces me to ask the question - Is this why our once-great nation is going down the crapper? Yours in peace and harmony, Mike Milligan.
- Floyd Gerhardt: Your grandfather left the ashes of the Weimar Republic and came to this country to build a name for himself. He built an empire from a shoe-shine box. Then, and only then, did he send for your father.
- Dodd Gerhardt: Ma, I know the story.
- Floyd Gerhardt: No, you don't. 'Cause if you did, you'd know that you are just a small part of it. That's what an empire is. It's bigger than any son or daughter. Eat.
- Dodd Gerhardt: I'm not hungry.
- Floyd Gerhardt: I'm your mother, you will eat with me. Your time will come. It will, but this isn't it. And if you stand by me now, I promise you that as soon as this crisis is over, I'll hand you your legacy, and I'll turn my thoughts to the grave.