Michelle Moran

“You mean we won't get to run through burning buildings?" I could see he wanted to laugh, but instead he watched me intently. "What? Why are you staring at me?" "I'm not staring. I'm observing."I smiled through my tears. "And what do you observe?"He brushed his lips against my ear. "A brave young woman who has always fought for what was right, even when it was unpopular. A woman who can't return to the land of her birth, but is wlcome to cross the seas and rebuild Alexandria in mine. And a woman who has suffered enough in Rome and deserves happiness for a change. Will you come to Mauretania and be my queen?"He drew back to look at me, but I held him closer. "Yes.""Just yes?"I nodded and pressed my lips against his.”

“After all, that's why we read historical fiction-to be transported to another time, and to be astonished at ancient people's lives and traditions, just as they would probably be astonished at ours.”

“I held Nefertiti's body closer to mine, trying to press her spirit into me, to bring it back. But the reign of Nefertiti was finished. She was gone from Egypt.”

“Nefertiti!" I shouted. "Meritaten!" How could they both be gone? Where could they be? I rounded the corner to the window of Appearences, then opened the door.The blood had already spread across the tiles. "Nefertiti!" I screamed, and my voice echoed through the palace.”

“I let myself be led out, but at the doors of the Great Hall, I turned. "I will never forgive this," I swore, and Nefertiti knew it was meant for her. "I will never forgive this so long as the sun sets on Amarna!" I screamed.”

“Even in the most wretched life, there’s hope.”

“Look at Rose Bertin. From an ordinary seamstress to the milliner”

“customers away. The Palais-Royal has become a veritable den of iniquity,”

“our countrymen are starving, she is decorating herself with diamond aigrettes!”

“such a short time. I am about to tell our barker,”

“I'm not staring. I'm observing. . . . And what do you observe? . . . A brave young woman who has always fought for what was right, even when it was unpopular.”

“I don't think unhappiness is fated.”

“And when that time comes, let's hope your friends outnumber your enemies.”

“...she refused to leave anything to someone else that she could do better herself.”

“there is nothing to fear but fear itself yet even then fear shouldn't be feared because fear cannot take what is protected by change”

“the one for whom the sun shines.. -Ramses II”

“My love is unique an none can rival her. Just by passing, she has already stolen away my heart.”

“Weigh each heart on its own," I shouted, "for how many of us would pass into the Afterlife if Osiris weighed our hearts with those of our akhu?”

“I understand that you are still grieving. But we will always be grieving.”

“Why does life carry some people on the crest of the wave while others drown beneath the water?”

“Things change, and not always for the better.”

“I always thought the purpose of time was to move forward, not backward.”

“But that's how the heart is. Stubborn and foolish.”

“A country is only as strong as its military, and only as moral as the men who serve in its ranks.”

“When the government violates the people's rights, insurrection is . . . the most indispensable of duties. -Marquis de Lafayette”

“I would not exchange my leisure hours for all the wealth in the world. -Comte De Mirabeau”

“The Americans are right: there should not be taxation unless the people consent to it. And it should be fair, which means the nobility and clergy should be taxed as well.”

“The only thing money is good for, Marie, is buying time. The time to do the things you like.”

“Everything looks new, but then that is the nature of science.”

“But there is nothing interesting about being unprepared.”

“You will never have to marry for money. You will never have to depend on anyne but yourself.”

“What I think and what Iam prepared to say are entirely different things.”

“This is how memories are; what seems so clear and unforgettable at one moment vanishes like steam the next.”

“These will be my last moments of peace. . . . From now on, my love. . . will bring nothing but chaos.”

“You'll know if he loves you by how long he's willing to fight.”

“Her beauty might fascinate men, but it was difficult to charm them when she stood mute. . . .”

“Now you are no longer a giggling child, smiling at whoever comes along. You are a woman with power. Learn to control your smile, and you can control what men will think about you.”

“That's because I've learned how to use it [smile], Woserit said. I don't pass it out like an old woman giving free milk to the village cats. It's something that must be controlled, and for you especially. You use it on anyone. You must learn to be more judicious.”

“You want it to feel like a surprise. You want to keep him guessing whether he'll make you smile entirely so that when you do, he will feel like he's been given a gift.”

“Sometimes, it is not the kings and queen who make for the most fascinating history but the shadowy souls who happen to be in the right place at the right time.”

“...we are all sorry when loss comes for us. The test of our character comes not in how many tears we shed but in how we act after those tears have dried.”

“I wonder if our names determine our destiny, or if destiny leads us to choose certain names.”

“I'd always thought I would feel like an animal released from its cage when my student days were finished, I felt more like a bird that had been pushed from its nest and told it must fly.”

“Nothing is forever...nothing lasts.”

“You can't change the desert. You can only take the fastest course through it. Wishing it's an oasis won't make it so...”