“There was the sheer Antarctic landscape, and the mind moving across it like a brush on canvas, until the brush was laid aside, and the snow buried it.”

“Memories are peculiar...You think the past is there, all fixed and stable, but it is really chock full of surprises and endlessly susceptible to change...So maybe it is true that we are constantly rewriting our past; they are not something fixed and unchangeable for all time. There is a basic structure, of course, a canvas stretched across boards, which cannot be remodeled at will, but the surface of that canvas can be shaded, rearranged, touched up, continually worked on to correspond to the needs of the present. In fact, the present moment is largely the focal point from which you shape the direction of your future and juggle the implications of your past.”

“The nearest arched window poured its soft light over him, allowing me to seeevery inch. Dressed smartly in black loafers and slacks, he wore a thigh-length, blackcoat. He'd brushed his golden hair back, tucked behind his ears, and his cheeks lookedflushed, no doubt due to the bitter, evening air.He looks like an angel in the winter snow. The thought made me growl in irritation."Hello, Magpie."I couldn't move. "Adrian.”

“I like to touch you," Claudia said, in her soft, sultry voice. "There are times when I want so badly to touch you that it hurts not to." She lifted one hand to his face and brushed her fingertips along his cheek.”

“I must leave you, Claudia. 'Tis unlikely we will have another opportunity to speak alone again before tomorrow." His lips brushed against hers in a kiss so brief that it was over almost before she realized it began. "Do not kiss anyone else until then. I want you to save your kisses for me.”

“...there is usually a course to be found somewhere between laid-back and laid out.”

“If you keep your destiny in mind, every moment in life becomes an opportunity for moving closer to it.”