“Vesper felt herself turning red with humiliation. Then she looked at Allegrareally looked at her. Maybe shed had such a problem with people not seeing her because she wasnt seeing them. Did Allegra...”

“To him, she was one of the few girls who was nice to him, the stodgy son of a poor alcoholic shoemaker with such little status that he seemed unlikely to even get one wife, let alone the three or m...”

“Nim looked aghast. Of course not. Do you think my future wife would be a servant? Noits Number Seven of the wives. Her name is Begonia.Oh, no, Nim, Vesper said. You cant fall for one of the wives! ...”

“For everything about him fitting her fantasy image of what she wanted, she still didnt feel seen by himand that made her all the more aware that maybe her fantasy wasnt what she wanted at all.”

“Happily-ever-after monogamy has been reinforced so steadily in literature that we tend to feel like failures when we dont achieve that in reality.”

“Shed never spoken to anyone before of this business of being seen, loved for who she was; to have it voiced by this man shed just met sent chills down her spine.”

“Dear Teens at Starbucks wearing 'Abstain from Sex 2 Attain Ur Goals' t-shirts: Doesn't it depend on what my goals are?”

“Well, that brings us to the point: There is only one way to protect ourselves from the deadly diseases that stalk the human family. It is abstinence before marriage, then marriage and mutual fideli...”

“Dude, you don't want to be dead. Take it from me. No-pussy is bad. But dead is like no-pussy times ten.”

“Although initially only few in numbers, it seems my gray hairs have launched an effective peer-pressure campaign intended to convert the others.”