“Hope is a beautiful and magical thing. Grasp it tight, monsieur, and never let go.”

“If I’m a monster, mademoiselle, it’s because man’s cruelty has made me so.”

“Love didn't seem like something that could be organized or contained; it should be messy and emotional, like exploding and imploding with someone at the exact same time.”

“It was her favorite story, that she remembers, but she would be hard-pressed to retell it now, faithfully, as it had been told to her. All she could recall were frayed, sleep-watered images of a fo...”

“Some curses fade and leave nothing but the faintest mark, a tea stain on watered silk. There are those that are so malevolent that, upon defeat, explode in a fiery burst of sulfurous flames, burnin...”

“Denna is a wild thing," I explained. "Like a hind or a summer storm. If a storm blows down your house, or breaks a tree, you don't say the storm was mean. It was cruel. It acted according to its na...”

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.”

“Cruelty and fear shake hands together. An unfulfilled vocation drains the color from a man's entire existence.”

“But because of you, I learned to love and not fear. Because of you, I can be loved and not be tormented. Because of you, I feel like a woman and not a victim.”

“Scusi mia bella*, but it runs in the blood of all Italians to be skillful lovers. So you have to get used to this.”

“You can't push me away, mio cuore. You can't!”