“That is how heavy a secret can become. It can make blood flow easier than ink.”

“Hours later the blank sheet still stared at me, and I beat my fist against the desk in fury and fustration, striking it so hard my hand bled. That is how heavy a secret can become. It can make blood flow easier than ink.”

“We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be.”

“The air was heavy with the smell of leather and dust, of old parchment and binding glue. It smelled of secrets.”

“...it is better to have a mouthful of poison than a secret of the heart.”

“This is how deeply rooted stories are, folks. We crave them before we can walk, and we start telling them before we can talk.”

“In the hours that followed, I learned that Ademic hand gestures did not actually represent facial expressions. It was nothing so simple as that. For example a smile can mean you're amused, happy, grateful, or satisfied. You can smile to comfort someone. You can smile because you're content or because you're in love. A grimace or a grin look similar to a smile, but they mean entirely different things.Imagine trying to teach someone how to smile. Imagine trying to describe what different smiles mean and when, precisely, to use them in conversation. It's harder than learning to walk.”