“Nobody’s mind ever remains a blank page, however carefully they are locked away from the world.”

“It is dangerous to lock oneself away and lose track of what is happening outside.”

“Clent, however, suppressed any sense of pity without the slightest difficulty. His brain was busy with the icy clockwork of calculation. If only this young woman’s fears were justified! Beamabeth Marlebourne would be unlikely to threaten anybody, locked away inside the Luck’s cell for the rest of her life. Such a fate had a tempting poetry to it too, given that she really was the Luck of Toll, and had been all her life.”

“I suppose not everybody can bear to give up everything they have ever known, however bad their life is.”

“Mosca had come armed with a rich pack of lies, ready to pick whichever seemed to suit Goshawk’s mood best. Under the wintry draught of his gaze, however, she felt most of them wither away in her hands.”

“Push something in someone’s face, and they will shove it away reflexively. Threaten to snatch it away from them, and sometimes they become convinced that it is what they want.”

“And below them, Toll-by-Night set about folding itself away, like a stilt-legged monster into a closet. Its inhabitants crept back into the unwanted places, the crannies and cellars and forgotten attics, and locked themselves in.A bugle blew. A silver jingling swept through the town, sealing away all bad reputations and bitter-tasting names.Another bugle sounded. And day swept in like a landlord, not knowing that it was only a guest in night's town.”