精彩的是對白的雋永。特別欣賞Father Flynn在講道時提及胡亂散佈謠言的害處。他將謠言比喻作飄散空中的羽毛。當你想收回已說出的謠言時,恐怕沒有可能,因為它們已飄到城裡每個角落了。原文摘錄如下:A woman who'd been gossiping about her neighbor had a dream where a large hand was pointing down at her, pressing upon her chest. Upset, she went to the priest and asked him if gossiping was a sin. Her harsh confessor is one Father O'Rourke who upbraids her severely for misappropriating the truth and assassinating the character of her neighbor. For penance the priest tells her to take a feather pillow to the rooftop of the building where she lives and cut it open, permitting the wind to carry the feathers everywhere. The woman does so and returns to the priest, presumably seeking absolution. The priest now instructs the gossip to retrieve every feather wherever it has been blown by the wind. The gossip tells Father O'Rourke that this is impossible, for she cannot possibly know where every feather has been carried by the wind! "And that is gossip," says Father O'Rourke.