“The thing about a mirror is this: The one who stares into it is condemned to consider the world from her own perspective.”

“But there was the mirror in which I would glimpse his handsome form, because mirrors don't lie about men, only women.”

“... the decades looked on and didn't notice her passing. They stared from their fixed mounts across at each other and didn't see revolution striding between them, on her way to destiny.”

“Very few things in the world are certain, but morning is one of them.”

“Galinda didn't see the verdant world through the glass of the carriage; she saw her own reflection instead. She had the nearsightedness of youth. She reasoned that because she was beautiful she was significant, though what she signified, and to whom, was not clear yet...She was, after all, on her way to Shiz because she was smart. But there was more than one way to be smart.”

“The overdressed traveler betrays more interest in being seen than in seeing, while the true traveler knows that the novel world about her serves as the most appropriate accessory.”

“I take all the credit in the world for my own foolishness.”