“Loyalty, Signor Molteni, not love. Penelope is loyal to Ulysses but we do not know how far she loved him...and as you know people can sometimes be absolutely loyal without loving. In certain cases, in fact, loyalty is form of vengeance, of black-mail, of recovering one's self-respect. Loyalty, not love.”

“And we all know love is a glass which makes even a monster appear fascinating.”

“Very well,” she said after a moment. “Here is how I see that loyalty and love are the same: You would lay down your life for someone for reasons of both love and loyalty. But loyalty implies dependence, doesn’t it? For instance, dogs are loyal. It also implies indebtedness. For instance, servants are loyal.”“It also implies integrity. And honor. And—”“Steadfastness,” she completed, with only a hint of irony.“So you see them as absolutes then, Miss Redmond? Love means to be willing to die for someone, and loyalty perhaps the same?”“How can they be otherwise?”

“This thought strengthened in me my belief that all men, without exception, deserve to be pitied, if only because they are alive.”

“People don’t die because of loyalty.”They don’t?” She smiled. “Religion? Government? Are we not loyal to such things, sometimes to the death?”Eddie shrugged.Better,” she said, “to be loyal to one another.”

“I learned the real meaning of love. Love is absolute loyalty. People fade, looks fade, but loyalty never fades. You can depend so much on certain people, you can set your watch by them. And that's love, even if it doesn't seem very exciting.”

“You can't think on purpose about somebody or something. Either you think about them naturally or you don't think at all.”