“She's one of the few people able to look beyond the lines on my face to see the twenty-year-old who lives inside.”

“Eight-and-twenty years,' said I, 'I have lived, and never a ghost have I seen as yet.' The old woman sat staring hard into the fire, her pale eyes wide open. 'Ay,' she broke in; 'and eight-and-twenty years you have lived and never seen the likes of this house, I reckon. There's a many things to see, when one's still but eight-and-twenty.' She swayed her head slowly from side to side. 'A many things to see and sorrow for.' ("The Red Room")”

“I don't know what the big deal is about old age. Old people who shine from the inside look 10 to 20 years younger.”

“In the twenty-one years I lived with my mother, we moved at least twenty times.”

“I've seen that cornered look on more than a few Parish faces over the years, and each time it brings a lump to my throat. The old-timers say you eventually get numb to it. I'm not sure I want to live that long.”

“I saw a stony mask come upon her lined face as she slew the weak houswife she had been and gave birth to the warrior that is buried inside every woman's heart,one who is unleased when her children's lives are at stake.”