“The will to be stupid is a very powerful force, but there are always alternatives.”

“Ignorance is not stupidity, but it might as well be. And I do not like feeling stupid.”

“The world demands I make good choices on no information, and then blames my maidenhood for my mistakes, as if my maidenhood were responsible for my ignorance. Ignorance is not stupidity, but it might as well be. And I do not like feeling stupid.”

“Money, power, sex ... and elephants.”

“If power was an illusion, wasn't weakness necessarily one also?”

“Miles is... Miles; close to a force of nature, climbing up out of his own pages and escaping subordination to any opinion of mine.”

“Women do desperately need models for power other than the maternal.”