“Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother, but the rest of the time there was none. This story is about one of those other times.”

“Once upon a time, fairy tales were AWESOME!”

“Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria. Wait a minute. "Once upon a time" is how all the best children's stories begin, and "prostitute" is a word for adults. How can I start a book with this apparent contradiction? But since, at every moment of our lives, we all have one foot in a fairy tale and the other in the abyss, let's keep that beginning.”

“When we think about fairy tales, we think about happily ever afters, forgetting the darkness that stories beginning with "once upon a time" so often contain.I tried to protect Shay from that darkness. But there was no way to shield her from the truth: Life is not a fairy tale.”

“Even in the Future the Story Begins with Once Upon a Time.”

“Truly, there is magic in fairy tales.For it takes but a simply-uttered 'Once upon a time...' to allure and spellbind an audience.”