“She threw herself across her bed, weeping into a pillow. She knew just what she wanted -- the desire was a fierce ache inside her. But fiercer still was the knowledge that it was beyond the reach o...”

“In the dull, persistent beat of her heart, she hears the rhythm of hope. It is faint and thin as a thread, but it is there.”

“Her voice is still pitched high, thanks to her youth, but it has a certain incipient darkness to it, a low richness that will mature in the coming years to the smoky tones of a priestess or a queen...”

“Men always laugh whenever a woman says she has political skill. But it's not such a difficult thing to master.”

“She will not bow her head to any woman or man, so why, indeed, should she bow to a needle?”

“Still, if I don't believe in the possibility, I might go mad from fear.”

“In this case the time is not so important for me, the person asking for commitment is.”

“That single moment's intensity hasn't been matched in my life before or since. A woman I didn't know had chosen to accept me, in body and mind. Perhaps it is this instant that forms the basis of tr...”

“I do not care about power and wealth, father. I want to marry for love.You want to marry for love? The elder Valentino scoffed. Que mierda. Marrying for love is like adding extra picante to your me...”

“The key is to put your outrage in a place where you can get it when you need to, but not have it bubble up so much, especially when you're asked to explain new ideas or explain what you observed tw...”

“He is not truly patient who will only suffer as far as seems right to him and from whom he pleases. The truly patient man considers not by whom he is tried, one above him, or by an equal, or by an ...”

“He is not truly patient who will only suffer as far as seems right to him and from whom he pleases. The truly patient man considers not by whom he is tried, one above him, or by an equal, or by an ...”