“They were bound together by the things they’d done. Things the nobility could never comprehend being desperate enough to do”

“He wondered briefly what it was like to dream. He never did. Possibly because he so seldom slept. He was obsessed with obtaining all the wealth he could, burning the midnight oil as often as possible. It protected a person from having to do things he didn't want to do.”

“There's a difference between being good and doing bad things. Sometimes, a person does something because he doesn't have a choice. He might not like what he did... but it doesn't make him bad.”

“Is there nothing you want so desperately that you’d be willing to do anything in order to acquire it?”

“Once, when our paths crossed, he told me that the kindest thing I’d ever done was to not marry him. Perhaps because he was passionately in love with a woman who possessed the wisdom to adore him as he deserved.”

“Oh, Papa, I've done something terribly silly. I've fallen in love with someone, and he loves another. The strange thing is, as much as it hurts, I only want him to be happy. And if she'll make him happy, I want him to have her.”

“He could not take what he could never keep.”