“The gods use their chosen hard, but reveal little to them.”

“We pay for sins we do not remember, and seek to do a will we can scarce fathom. That is what it is, to be a god's chosen. ”

“Let the warriors clamor after gods of blood and thunder; love is hard, harder than steel and thrice as cruel. ”

“I know what you are. I've always known from the beginning, Kushiel's Chosen. It is folly, to make claim on one whom the gods have marked for their own. And unlike the others, I am no fool, to grasp at that which burns to the touch. What you have given..." she raised one hand, palm upward, the garnet seal dangling at her wrist, "... I hold in an open hand.”

“A little truth seasons a lie like salt.”

“Love is hard, harder than steel and thrice as cruel. It is inexorable as the tides, and life and death alike follow in its wake.”

“I wish sometimes that the gods would either choose better, or make their wishes clearer”