On the NPCs

Jack Bennett

• On Mary Beth Manly: "Beth... Poor Beth. She... uhm... She's not so well after everything that happened. Got no family, and that fuckin' psychopath, Booth, carved up her baby and cloned it. I think he's alive somewhere. I mean, the rest of us all lived. I think Booth stole her kid. I'm not saying it in front of her, but I'll make it my mission to find out the truth, and when I'm done I'll ruin Booth. He won't have enough change for a bigmac meal when I'm done with that sick, perverted little fucker. I mean you can hide behind science, but Beth is just a kid herself. Damn. And thats her baby! What the hell? She, most of all, needs us right now. I mean, without us to look after her, who's she got?"
• On Agent Vernon Marks: "."

Brian Jaffe

• On David Jaffe: "It's not that David and Miriam got divorced that bothers me. It's not that David remarried, or even that he had another son. They're my parents and if they're happier apart than they are together then I'm happy for them. What bothers me is that things changed at all. Maybe it's naive of me, but after more than thirty years I'd just sort of assumed that, no matter how much things changed for me, they'd stay basically the same. But now, with things changed, I'd have to get to know these two people from scratch. I don't know if I can do that."

• On Vivian Janell: "I have the world's best secretary. I really hate her, sometimes. Vivian's insanely competent at her job, too good to work for me; if she has any sense at all, she'll jump ship for a management position somewhere else within a year, or at least demand one at Hopewell. But, of course, Vivian hasn't got any sense. That's what makes her so frustrating; she can keep track of the positions of a hundred Senators on a thousand issues, but it's a wonder if she doesn't lock herself out of her apartment every morning. If there's anything out there that can kill me, it'd have to be her."
  • "Stupid, crazy, wonderful Vivian. I don't believe she took a bullet for me. What the hell was she thinking? She could have died! Nearly almost did. It never was a risk-free business, but this isn't exactly what she signed up for when she climbed onto my payroll. But there's no where I can put her that'll keep her safe. That's just the nature of the beast, now. What she needs is just some common sense."

• On Mary Beth Manly: "I'm not even going to pretend that I can understand the pain that Beth's going through right now; I've never lost anything as big, as important, as she has. I don't know her story - if she has a boyfriend out there, parents who are looking for her; right now, we're all she's got and we're going to have to do our best to take care of her.
       "But right now, much as I hate to even think this, Beth is our worst enemy. She may be getting control over her powers, but she doesn't have control over her mind. Her reaction at the Lincoln Memorial... we should've seen that coming, we should've been fast enough to stop her. We weren't, and look what happened to Jack. We can do a better job of it in the future, but if we always have to have one eye on Beth, what else is out there that we're going to miss?"

• On Julie Young: "Julie's the reason I got into politics. Or people just like her, at least. People who have kids to raise, jobs and relationships to worry about; who don't have time to follow every bit of bullshit that goes through Washington; real people. The sort of people who can get by in life, but just wish things could be a little easier. That's why I want Julie on Hopewell's board so badly; she's the only one of us who has any real perspective on what's normal."
  • "Arthur's got a girlfriend, Arthur's got a girlfriend."

• On Milos Wiazowski: "I'm really beginning to hate this guy. I don't mind that he's in politics and out for himself at the same time; that's par for the course. If he makes good policy while he's in office, that's good enough. The problem is with the way he uses his powers. Free will, the right to decide things for yourself, it's the foundation of everything important to me; it's why I believe in this country so strongly. Taking that away... It makes me sick.
       "Even worse, the way he bargains with his powers. 'I'll give you this one for free,' he said. If I believed in the devil, I'd see him wearing Milos' face."
  • "I half-expected Milos to show up in the Hopewell office after our botched run-in with him and his gang outside of Julie's house, but I wasn't expecting him to behave the way he did. The threats, maybe, but not the ridiculous ultimatums he tossed out, or the clumsy way he tried to bait us. He's like a child; petulant, lashing out and scared. And why shouldn't he be? These are scary powers and scary times and who has he had to talk to about them? The illusion-casting goomba in the bad hat? Milos must feel so alone. I could almost start to pity him. And then I remember that he still has Maggie."

• On Marcy Styles: "In a year and a half for Senator Chafee and three years for the Foreign Relations Committee, I only ever had to let someone go once, and it was really hard to do. With Marcy, it was easy. Which is strange, I guess, because she was amazingly good at her job. Spots on Larry King, 20/20, the Daily Show; the cover of Time; even an hour with Barbara Walters! But her behavior... I don't mind questioning and I don't mind back-talk; God knows I get a bunch of both from Vivian. But I won't be ignored in my own office, I won't have my priorities kept off my schedule and I sure as hell won't let someone new walk over someone who's proven her worth to me time and time again. Marcy just had to go."

• On Steven Nguyen: "I hope Vernon's wrong about him. It's a headache that I just don't need right now."

Arthur Redford

• On Agent Vernon Marks: "If there is anybody in this whole mess that I will have a problem liking and getting along with it'll be him. He's a good man, and very competant at his job. He is not lacking in the courage department nor is he undisiplined. However, there has always been a longstanding rivaly and bad blood between Secret Service and the Militart service. Part of it is the mentality. Both of us are trained very similarly. Only his job is to protect a single person or family, and mine is to protect the whole country. Plus in general the SS has a bit of a superiority complex about their job and tend to think of themselves as above a regular serviceman. His parting line said it all. 'Rein in your dog Jack.'" *Yes, I know Arthur is being a little hypecritical about this* He's a good man, we just won't get along.

Mandy Smith

• On Julia Lee: "Waste of good female space."

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The AMERICAN GODS