“O grant me a house by the beach of a bay,Where the waves can be surly in winter, and play With the sea-weed in summer, ye bountiful powers!And I'd leave all the hurry, the noise, and the fray, For a house full of books, and a garden of flowers.”

“Life, it is not simple like a garden, where flowers are always flowers and weeds are always weeds.”

“Houses, trees and fields of flax once flourished here. Summers had been blue with flowers. Now it was a shallow sea of stinking grey from end to end. And this is where you fought the war.”

“The heat of the summer transformed the green grass into long brown straw, only the weeds were green. Claire didn't mind, the weeds had pretty flowers. Unlike Tony's flowers, which had been sentenced to his yard, gardens, or clay pots, these flowers grew free wherever they wanted. Furthermore, weeds were survivors. When all else died, the weeds remained. Yes, Claire liked weeds.”

“There must be every kind of books in your library. The most beautiful gardens are those with many different flowers, with all kinds of herbs and weeds!”

“This is the woman I'm t' marry! Where have ye been all me life, me love?"And without a blink, I replied, "Don't start with me, ye scoundrel! If ye come with an empty purse, ye can leave now, fer I'd rather be unwed than unfed.”