“Beauty is hardly a virtue, for the disease of insecurity lurks not too far behind its veneer.”
“Leaving behind books is even more beautiful — there are far too many children.”
“No company is preferable to bad. We are more apt to catch the vices of others than virtues, as disease is far more contagious than health.”
“Hardly anyone understands the principles behind magic,"scoffed Betony. "It's too difficult.”
“Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself the right to be human can, paradoxically, make you a far happier and more productive person.”
“Beauty he loved for its own sake; ugliness, which more often than not was a form of inverted beauty, fascinated him. Life offered far too little of either, and far too much appalling mediocrity, which he thought hideous.”