“He was struck by the sensation she’d made it happen in some way, that his life was simply a story the old woman was making up in her head.”

“He wasn’t a religious man but a vision of what Paradise might be came to him, a windowed room afloat on an endless sea, walls packed floor to ceiling with all the books ever written or dreamed of. It was nearly enough to make giving up the world bearable.”

“Levi’s motives were never quite as obvious. There was an Old Testament ruthlessness about him, Shambler thought, something inscrutably tribal at the root.”

“From what I have seen of the world, Reverend, motherhood is a certainty, but fatherhood is a subject of debate.”

“People like to talk about "Cinderella stories," but Cinderella didn't get her happy ending without lifting a finger. She had to show up at the ball, be charming and smooth, and win over the prince. Of course she had help along the way, but ultimately it was up to her to make the fairy-tale ending happen.”

“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, and others make it happen.”

“some people wish it would happen, some pepole want it to happen, others make it happen”