“It's because we live in a beauty-obsessed society where the most important thing a woman can do is make herself attractive to men.”

“Why did they all have to tread so very delicately around Celeste's money? It was like wealth was an embarrassing medical condition. It was the same with Celeste's beauty. Strangers gave Celeste the...”

“She felt hot liquid anger suddenly cool and harden into something powerful and immovable.”

“Something snapped," said Madeline. She saw Perry's hand shining back in its graceful, practiced arc. She heard Bonnie's guttural voice. It occurred to her that there were so many levels of evil in ...”

“What are you babbling on about, woman?" sighed Chloe. She'd picked this phrase up from her father and imitated his weary tone perfectly. They'd made the mistake of laughing the first time she did i...”

“If parents had children who were good sleepers, they assumed this was due to their good parenting, not good luck. They followed the rules, and the rules had been proven to work. Celeste must theref...”

“They will hate you if you are beautiful. They will hate you if you are successful. They will hate you if you are right. They will hate you if you are popular. They will hate you when you get attent...”

“But even when I stop crying, even when we fall asleep and I'm nestled in his arms, this will leave another scar. No one will see it. No one will know. But it will be there. And eventually all of th...”

“Cinderella was such a dork. She left behind her glass slipper at the ball and then went right back to her step-monster's house. It seems to me she should have worn the glass slipper always, to make...”

“He sank back into his black-and-white world, his immobile world of inanimate drawings that had been granted the secret of motion, his death-world with its hidden gift of life. But that life was a d...”

“Dont just remain an accidental being.”

“Nothing I do is natural, realistic, organic or accidental. I'm never spontaneous, I'm completely premeditated.”

“Oh, come now, you two, Lady Manston said, surely it can be no surprise that I have long hoped for an alliance between the Rokesbys and Bridgertons. Alliance? Billie echoed, and all George could thi...”

“At 8:23 there seemed every chance of a lasting alliance starting between Florin and Guilder.At 8:24 the two nations were very close to war.”

“The love of conflict is most evident when opposing forces join sides to defeat the peacemaker.”