- Donna De Angelo: ...and when you are of age you are free to fuck up your own life, but until that time I'm afraid it's *my* job!
- [stranded on an island, Joe is making smoke signals to attract planes]
- Donna De Angelo: So then we hope that someone sees this and wonders what the story is?
- Noelle De Angelo: Somebody who doesn't want to kill us.
- [Donna scoffs at her]
- Joe Gastineau: It's a possibility...
- Donna De Angelo: Geez, you two are a perfect match. Doom and gloom.
- Noelle De Angelo: There's no use pretending.
- Donna De Angelo: Yes, there is! We are on a camping trip. We're on a survival school camping trip! I mean, this is what they call quality time, isn't it? This is what they mean. No distractions, no media stuff, we just get to know each other, we gnaw the bark off a few trees. I mean, people pay money to come on trips like this! You know, if you assume that bad shit's gonna happen, bad shit happens! I just don't see the point.
- Donna De Angelo: How come you're not married?
- [they laugh at her bluntness]
- Donna De Angelo: Sorry, if you don't want to say...
- Joe Gastineau: Probably the same reason you're not married.
- Donna De Angelo: Because such a high percentage of men are jerks?
- Joe Gastineau: No.
- Donna De Angelo: Because women are scarce and winters are long?
- Joe Gastineau: That's true, but...
- Donna De Angelo: Because you're looking for someone fun to be with? Who understands your bullshit but is still crazy about you anyway?
- Joe Gastineau: That's a bit much to ask for.
- Donna De Angelo: No, it's not.
- Albright: What are you buying when you get on a roller coaster? Not risk... but the illusion of risk. Being hurled to the edge of danger but knowing that you'll never have to cross it. Now Mr. Disney's innovation was to put these carnival rides and attractions into a story context where you can imagine yourself as a character in one of his cartoon epics floating through a plaster of paris jungle. The obvious next step... is not bigger and better facsimiles of nature but nature itself. Think of Alaska as one big theme park.
- Noelle De Angelo: Winter has locked us in its icy embrace. The pelts of the animals are thick and bluish and our home is blanketed with snow. Papa calls it "limbo" because it sure isn't heaven and it's too cold to be hell. Mother wondered about purgatory, but he said no. Purgatory has an end to it. "Don't torture me so," said Mother.