“Where are the leaders?' Sapphique asked.'In the fortresses,' the swan replied.'And the poets?''Lost in dreams of other worlds.''And the craftsmen?''Forging machines to challenge the darkness.''And the Wise, who made the world?'The swan lowered its black neck sadly.'Dwindled to crones and sorcerers in towers.”

“Remember that you are a Black Swan.”

“The swan who goes on living in its parents' tree will die; this is why those who are beautiful and talented bear the burden of finding their own way in the world.”

“This humble person has been alive long enough to see two generations of children grow up, and knows how rare it is for ordinary birds to give birth to a swan. The swan who goes on living in its parents' tree will die; this is why those who are beautiful and talented bear the burden of finding their own way into the world.”

“That place where I was born was a cold town. Even the mountains stood away. They were not sure, no more than me, of that dark spot, those same mountains.There was a black river that flowed through the town, and if it had no grace for mortal beings, it did for swans, and many swans resorted there, and even rode the river like some kind of plunging animal, in floods.”

“The mosaicist was making the fine hairs on the nape of Mona's swan neck out of chips of gold”