Mary Hoffman

“How can you tell when a piece is finished?'I asked.'You can't,' he said flatly. 'All you can tell is when you can't do any more to it. And then you need to stop because if you don't, you will spoil it.”

“There are some choices you can only make once. You can't go back to where you made a choice and then take the other one.”

“We are in a tight corner, now, I agree. But we have been in tight corners before and come out of them. You have to be brave a little longer.”

“I often think how unadventurous my life must seem from the outside, though I do like my job.”

“My guard will run you through if he catches you looking at my face," said Arianna."I don't think so. I think it might be treason to kill a duke," said Luciano."But you're not a duke," said Arianna."I will be if you marry me," said Luciano."Yes, you would be," said Arianna."Would?""If you are asking me.""I'm asking.""And if I accepted.""Do you?""I do. With all my heart.”

“I hardly think a girl is much of a threat. I presume you searched her for weapons? But if she attempts to suffocate me with her straw mattress, I promise to call out for help.”

“If I had known, do you think I should have let her get away with this mad plan? That I should have let her rob me of my child? No, I should have taken you myself and hidden with you in some far-off land and never seen her again rather than agree to such an unnatural scheme”