“A nation's not a child, for God's sake. ... It's like a wild horse you tame by breaking it. Or a fiery woman you slap till she sees sense and warms your bed.”

“And still you'll hesitate to tell him, won't you? Why? Because you're a woman? Is your destiny such a small thing then? To keep your legs open and your mouth shut?”

“After which, he visited the wife of that fool Wallace and spent midnight till dawn bouncing her from one end of the mattress to the other.”

“You speak as if this is a good world with a little evil in it. Rubbish. It's a hellish one where the best a man can do is put a little sanity back and look after his own.”

“It's a long ride home with nothing but me for company. I bore myself sometimes. Not often. Just now and again.”

“There are no secrets.' The thing smiled, showing a row of even, childlike teeth. 'None worth keeping. Only the ones you hide from yourself, which are the most damaging and hurtful of all. Truth is truth, and lie is lie. Tell yourself one's the other and all the world turns kilter.”

“I've no need of reasons. The doing's enough.'Well said for once, the girl thought. The doing was everything.”