“It was a stupid thing to hold onto, but when one doesn't have much to celebrate in the way of physical attributes, ankles matter.”

“There was something aggressively masculine about Toloose . . . perhaps it was the look in his eye. Or the way he was holding his billiard cue. It was amazing the way a man in an embroidered coat could take on the air of a dockworker.”

“They were talking about things that didn’t matter a fig, not with the huge yawning grief burning a hole in his chest because of what had happened to her. To Josie. His Josie, now.”

“Virginity, like many things connected to men, was obviously vastly over-rated. And frankly, so was sexual intimacy. No wonder Villiers didn’t care if she’d had previous experiences. It was all a matter of a minute at most.”

“Life should not be measured by time. The only thing that counts is how one uses the time one has.”

“Here, drink your liqueur," Henry said, tossing back her drink. "I carry it with me everywhere because it's the only kind of drink that Leo doesn't like, so there's a chance I'll still have some tomorrow.”

“One more time, she promised herself. That wasn't too trollopy. She wouldn't be too trollopy.But when they actually got to the guardhouse?Trollopy.”