“Innocence invites protection, yet we might be smarter to protect ourselves against it...”

“I once laughed at the vanity of women of thirty or forty who whitened their ruddy old skin with lead, but now I know such salves are not disguises for old crones who wish to catch a young husband. Instead they are only a mask we wear so that we can, for a little while, still recognize ourselves.”

“Mrs. Banks: [singing] Though we adore men individually, we agree that as a group they're rather stupid. ”

“That was my first instinct -- to protect him. It never occurred to me that there was a greater need to protect myself. Innocence always calls mutely for protection when we would be so much wiser to guard ourselves against it: innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm.”

“The tales we tell ourselves about ourselves makes us who we are.”

“Beauty was a curse to be borne, not a blessing.”

“One day I woke up and said, 'I'm going to start a revolution.' ...and I did.”