“They found themselves striding into the herald's square of a place called Mercutio before they could discuss whether it was nightingales or sparrows that sang so prettily in the woods.”

“Beautiful songs could sometimes take a person out of themselves and carry them away to a place of magic. But when Jill sang, it was not about the song, really. She could sing the phone book. She could sing a shopping list. Whatever she sang, whatever the words or the tune, it was so beautiful, so achingly lovely, that no one could listen and be untouched.”

“Kathy Nightingale: What's good about sad? Sally Sparrow: It's happy for deep people.”

“Men grow cold as girls grow oldAnd we all lose our charms in the end.How prettily Lorelei Lee sang these mordant lyrics!”

“It is modest of the nightingale not to require anyone to listen to it; but it is also proud of the nightingale not to care whether any one listens to it or not.”

“The woods would be quiet if no bird sang but the one that sang best.”