“When some women felt fear, they covered it with an iron grate of courage, I thought. Men might be dangerous, but they were very often unperceptive. If fear only rumbled through a womans soul and gl...”

“I was scarcely the first, nor the only current, girl of impressive derivation to be unceremoniously thrust through the iron gate at the entrance of Le Murate by parents whose aspirations for their ...”

“He was an indecent man, I told myself - prayerfully - and then I prayed for him to become decent.”

“It was a tribute to Raphael that lesser artists wanted to copy his work, but this this was a travesty. The fresco consisted of Galateas apotheosis, wherein she is surrounded by mythical creatures. ...”

“People were messy. They were defined not only by what they'd done, but by what they would have done, under different circumstances, molded as much by their regrets as their actions, choices they st...”

“You do right by me, I'll show you a life most suckers can't even dream of.”

“The children start school now in August. They say it has to do with air-conditioning, but I know sadism when I see it.”

“Communication is the breath or death of any relationship”

“Breath with awareness is prana. Breath without awareness is just air.”

“The more you listen to your breath, the more you can hear the voice of your soul.”

“For her last gasp was a story in itself.”