“Because you have my heart, Virgilia Wessex. Softly, almost achingly. Every black ounce of it. Scars and all.”

“He watched her for her reaction, or possibly watched her just to watch, his eyes hooded by his lashes and his mouth impassive. A faceless mansuch as the one she had dreamed of since she was a child...”

“I know I am flaky, I accept thatand I know, as well, that I can mangle the good kings English like no one else in my or the next ten governesses acquaintances, but that will not prevent me from spe...”

“She wondered how a man could look into a womans eyes and lie so completely, so convincingly. She wondered how he could have looked and not seen the love that had glowed there, the blind faith, the ...”

“No fairy tale, this. This was by no stretch of the imagination a polished fantasy. This was a searing, living force, rough around the edges, unfamiliar and bittersweet.And precious.”

“I will not marry Ashton. However bound by honor to do so, I will not marry Ashton. I will not marry, ever! Why not?Because I love you, you idiot!”

“Part of the problem with the word 'disabilities' is that it immediately suggests an inability to see or hear or walk or do other things that many of us take for granted. But what of people who can'...”

“It always struck me in years after how bizarre it was, how two people could look at one another with such tenderness and complete love, and how quickly that could dissolve into nothing but bitterness.”

“Surely if we knew what bitterness fate held in store, we would shrink back in fear and let the cup of life pass us by untasted.”

“My past has not defined me, destroyed me, deterred me, or defeated me; it has only strengthened me.”

“Find your noble purpose and defeat any residue of fear.”

“Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.”