“You are...beyond my imagination. It's a wonder you can be touched at all.”

“Alex understood such discipline. He knew the rarity of it, and the cost. And on the rare occasions when he happened to touch her, he did wonder what else she might have been, if she had not been so determined to be typical.”

“It means that you are my freedom, love.""Yes," she whispered. That was it exactly. "And you are mine.”

“...nobody belongs to that world...Nobody feels as if they belong, at any rate. They're all watching each other--fearful of the laughter coming from across the room, wondering to themselves, are they the target? Are they the joke?”

“Modesty, if you consider it, is the most unforgivable sort of falsehood: it's a lie that does damage to no one but yourself.”

“and I said, 'That is why you don't climb mountains, Gwen.' But now I wonder. You aren't afraid of heights.""No", she said. "Not particularly.""Only missteps."She paused midstroke. Did he mean to imply this had been a misstep? "I was afraid," she said carefully. "For a very long time. But no longer." "So was I," he said, and lifted her chin and kissed her.”

“There. That is the answer to this riddle. The promises I can make, and the one I can't. Gwen. I will never leave you willingly. Life is a risk, and so love is, as well. But I swear to God, you will not regret the gamble.”