“Napoleon built his campaigns of iron and when one piece broke the whole structure collapsed. I made my campaigns using rope, and if a piece broke I tied a knot”

“Walter broke off a piece of a smile and tucked it into his left cheek as if reserving it for future use.”

“I broke his heart though! When I refused to stay in his selfish New World, his stone heart broke into pieces!"..."I know it did because when he said good-bye, a splinter flew from his heart and pierced my own. And it's still there. I still feel it.”

“Mr. Carlisle became brisk. "Baby," he said, as Napoleon might have said to one of his Marshals when instructing him in his latest plan of campaign . . .”

“The pearls weren't really white, they were a warm oyster beige, with little knots in between so if they broke, you only lost one. I wished my life could be like that, knotted up so that even if something broke, the whole thing wouldn't come apart.”

“It broke my heart into more pieces than my heart was made of, why can't people say what they mean at the time?”