“I could not but wonder at the queen's unprecedented civility, until I realized with a flush of shame that it was my own improved behavior that motivated hers. So it is that we in life determine our own treatment.”

“And if I didn’t, I’d spend the rest of my life wondering who I could have turned into if only I’d had the guts to try.”

“Despite all my public misconduct, in the past year, I had learned the Elemental spells, the Doppelschläferin, and the preparation and flying of a magic broom; I had survived two months as prisoner of war, saving the life of captain Johanne in the process; I had escaped the dungeons of Fortress Drachensbett, and after an arduous journey successfully reunited with my double, so preserving her, and all Montagne, from Prince Flonian's rapacity, I would somehow master the despicable art of being a princess.”

“I swear, every person I know gets far more satisfaction from doing good deeds than receiving them. Maybe that’s the whole point in the end, all of us putting up with good deeds, tolerating them as best we can, counting the minutes until we have the opportunity to reciprocate.”

“What is a staircase, but a corridor improved by elevation?”

“How could I pretend to be someone else when I was already failing at being the person I already was?”

“Everyone I looked at, their whole lives, did exactly what they were supposed to dowithout even questioning it, without even wondering if they coulddo something different.”