“With all the insolence she swallowed, it was a wonder her corsets still laced. Retort after rejoinder after sharp-edged remark: Why do you address me? What can I possibly have to say to a man who would split a pair of fives? Be quiet. Go to sleep. Go away. Come back when you have another erection.”

“Some men there were who know how to look at a lady, and make her feel she'd been seen. Or perhaps there was no question of knowing how. Some men just looked at ladies that way. [...] Tell me what absorbs you so, such a man might say. I wonder at your thoughts. He might even guess. It's to do with cards, isn't it?”

“I love you for your quickness and your brokenness and your sharp edges too.”

“How could he claim to love her, when he did not love what was essential in her?”

“Honor is the best part of you, Will Blackshear. And I don't make that pronoucement lightly. No woman could, who's ever seen you naked.”

“Love makes us all do unaccountable things.”

“Even two people who are no more than friends by daylight can fell prey to the influence of a secret dark room.”