“Loyalty is not loyalty unless one clings to it in the face of adversity. No?”

“Our faces were overly close, and in that moment something more passed between us. I’d never felt this kind of thing with a guy – such a connection. I knew, in my head, that we were practically strangers; but this thing – whatever it was – made me feel known. Seen. Acknowledged and appreciated and admired.”

“One man's poison is another's elixir.”

“Only one sort of man is worse than an Italian when it comes to their appetite for women.""Oh? And what is that?""A Frenchmen.”

“Don't you agree? Swordplay is a dance of sorts, an understanding of the logical, most sophisticated next step. Except that in a fight, one must take the unexpected step. In dance it is all about taking the right, expected step.”

“What could I do, to make the most of this day, whether I was in my own day, or this one? What amazing history was I seeing firsthand? Would I embrace it, instead of crying and whining? Was it in me to be grateful for my situation? Truly in me?”

“My eyes shifted to the trickling river. Come spring, it would be ten times as wide and just as deep. On and on it went, rushing toward the distant horizon. Like time. Like life. Sometimes gently falling from one pool into the other, other times fast and cascading, and still other times narrowing into a funnel, a torrent of knots and waves.”