“But what I felt was inexpressible gratitude for the music, that in this horror there could be something as beautiful as that.”

“There was something vampiric about. . music. It must have sounded supernatural even to those who don't believe in the supernatural. . .the way harmony could be layered upon harmony until you felt yourself dissolving in the sound. So eloquent of dread it was, this music.”

“If you could see yourself, hear your own voice, your music. . you wouldn't see darkness. . you'd see an illumination that is all your own. . light and beauty come together in you in a thousand different patterns.”

“Our language needs endless synonyms for beautiful; the eyes could see what the tongue cannot possibly describe.”

“I stumble through a carnival of horrors”

“There are too many other inexplicable things around us--horrors, threats, mysteries that draw you in and then inevitably disenchant you. Back to the predictable and humdrum. The prince is never going to come, everybody knows that; and maybe Sleeping Beauty's dead.”

“I’d thought I knew what beauty was in women; but she’d surpassed all the language I had for it.”