“If ifs and buts were candies and nuts we’d all have a very Merry Christmas, I heard my aunt Diane boom in my head. Those words had been the bane of my childhood, a constant reminder that nothing turned out right, not just for me but for anyone, and that’s why someone had invented a saying like that. So we’d all know that we’d never have what we needed.”

                     --Gillian Flynn, Dark Places, 2009

“CLARKE FUTURISTICS: CALL IT A DREAM GONE BUST–JUST ONE MORE INSIGNIFICANT VICTIM OF THE RECESSION. STUART CLARKE HAD POURED HIS SOUL INTO A VISION OF THE FUTURE, ONLY TO SEE THAT VISION DESTROYED BY INFLATION, UNFAIR COMPETITION, AND A DOZEN OTHER FACTORS BEYOND HIS CONTROL. THE DREAM DIES SLOWLY. THE DREAMER FACES BANKRUPTCY and IMPRISONMENT. SING A SAD SONG FOR A DREAM GONE BUST–AND ADD A REFRAIN FOR THE DREAMER.”

                     --Tony Isabella, THE CHAMPIONS, Vol. 1, No. 6, 
                              "Mad Dogs and Businessmen," 1976