- Narrator: Years ago, Willard had fitted together a weathered cross above a fallen tree in a small clearing behind his house. He came every morning and evening to talk to God. It seemed to his son that his father fought the Devil all the time.
- Narrator: [narrating] Bodecker believed that people were like dogs; once they start digging, they don't wanna stop.
- Narrator: Four hundred or so people lived in Knockemstiff in 1957, nearly all of them connected by blood by one godforsaken calamity or another, be it lust, or necessity, or just plain ignorance.
- Narrator: In the years to come Carl would call Sandy "the bait," and she'd called him "the shooter." And they both called their victims "the models".
- Arvin: Dear Grandma... I'm writing to you because I cannot say goodbye to your face. I love you and I will always remember the things that you have done for me. What I'm about to do, I do because I have to, not because I want to. Please do not try and find me. Love, your grandson, Arvin.
- Rev. Preston Teagardin: The good book... is filled with good men and women suffering delusions. Eve in the garden. Noah... naked, drunk. Bringing shame upon his family. The idol the Jews bowed before in the desert. And even the Lord Jesus himself was presented with delusions in the desert that only through his faith... and his strength... overcame.
- [pause]
- Rev. Preston Teagardin: The Lord's delusion in the desert was a game... of the so-called "Devil." And what the Lord experienced... was a delusion that would've kept him from saving us! But he did not fall for it! It is our delusions that lead us to sin. Striking a mother or a wife for something that you thought they said. Neglecting work or Sunday service for that matter. Some girl... gets a feeling for a fella and lets him have her holy gift. DELUSIONS! Blaspheming the lord in your mind and in your heart for some wrong done to you by another person.
- Rev. Preston Teagardin: I've heard of cases in my reading about sin where someone got so sick... over some sin they felt they had committed that was so terrible that they... started imagining things. Back, I read a story about... people. Poor people. Barely able to write... thinking they're... the president or... or a Hollywood celebrity like Ava Gardner.
- Lenora: I... I don't understand what you're talking about.
- Rev. Preston Teagardin: The thing is, that's the part of it. The book says... it's not, not understanding. See, think about it. How... could I be the daddy... when all we done is spend time with the Lord?