Pinochle Quotes

“You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.
"I'm afraid not," I said.
"I'm afraid not, sir," he said.
"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules.”
― Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

“The only disagreeable thing about England, that trip, was the climate. It was chilly and damp when we got there and it kept getting chillier and damper. I never once got really warm, outdoors or in. Chico and I shared an apartment near the theatre, where the only heat came from an open coal grate. Our last night there was the coldest yet. As the last of our scuttle of coal was burning out, we decided the only way we could keep from freezing was to bundle up in all the clothes we had with us and stay up and play pinochle, instead of going to bed. But the chill came creeping through every layer of every shirt, sweater, suit, raincoat and overcoat we had on.
“What the hell,” said Chico. “We can’t die of pneumonia our last night here. That would be ungrateful, after all they’ve done for us.” So saying, he pulled a drawer out of the dresser, stomped on it and smashed it and threw the sticks in the fire. We played two hands of pinochle, then it got cold again.
We burned up the rest of the drawers, one by one. Then the bureau itself had to go. Next we threw on the chairs and played cards standing up. Before dawn the fire began to die again. We broke up the table and piled it on the fire and had to finish the pinochle game sitting on the floor.
We took off for the boat-train first thing in the morning, too early to wake up the landlord to tell him good-bye and thank him for a pleasant stay. But we left him a note, and enough dough to replace all the extra firewood we had burned. We left the note on the mantelpiece-which we hadn’t been able to rip from the wall, although, God knows, we tried.”
― Harpo Marx, Harpo Speaks!