“Maybe maturity is merely accepting the tally of all the disappearing options of life.”

“Sometimes Tally felt she could almost accept brain damage if it meant a life without reconstituted noodles.”

“Maturity is achieved when a person accepts life as full of tension.”

“I barely recognized myself, but maybe that was a good thing. After all, that was why I was here; to become something else, someone else. If all went as planned, Ashallyn'darkmyr Tally, third prince of the Unseelie Court would not longer exist. What will it be like as a human?...Will I still be myself? Will I remember everything about my life in the Winter Court, or will those memories disappear?”

“That’s what happens when you force someone to choose. Maybe they pick option A, maybe they pick option B, but most will go for a third option that isn’t asking them to pick favorites in the first place.”

“Tattoos are a right of passage. They're a marker of bravery, of maturity, of cultural acceptance. The tattoo represents not only a willingness to accept pain - to endure it - but a need to actively embrace it. Because life is painful - beautiful but painful.......”