- Wendy Carr: You know, you're going to see people present with similar pathologies, but the way a person kills is as individual and distinct as the way they have sex.
- Holden Ford: And just as complicated.
- William: [over dinner] In society, everyone behaves in certain ways in order to avoid embarrassment, either for ourselves or others.
- Gore: The very idea of embarrassing oneself, or others, by being oneself speaks to a deeper treachery.
- William: "Treachery!"
- Annaliese Stilman: Goffman saw a connection between the kinds of acts or masks that people put on in their daily lives - and in theatrical performances. In a social interaction, as in a theatrical performance, there's an onstage area where individuals or actors, as the case may be, appear before the audience. But there must be a backstage, a hidden, private area, where individuals can truly be themselves.
- Gore: Of course, Annaliese, that's lovely, but you're missing the point. There's no risk of embarrassment for anyone in their hidden and private places. It's not backstage where the damage is done.
- Bill Tench: It's always the mother. They all have a crazy, angry mother.
- Holden Ford: Or an absent father. Benjamin only changed after his father took off. Maybe has nothing to do with the mother.
- Bill Tench: Aren't all fathers absent in some way? I know my old man was never around.
- Holden Ford: Imagine how different Benjamin and Rose's lives might have been if their father never left.
- D.A. Peterson: [emerging for grand jury hearing] You know what we're up against. We have to consider the attention span of a prospective jury pool. Need to keep them in mind. Our objective is the lowest cost for the highest quality of justice.