“Power said to the world,"You are mine."The world kept it prisoner on her throne.Love said to the world, "I am thine."The world gave it the freedom of her house.”

“In Alexander's life there was one thread that could not be broken by death, by distance, by time, by war. Could not be broken. As long as I am in the world, she said with her breath and her body, as long as I am, you are permanent, soldier.”

“He offered her the world. She said she had her own.”

“The indifference of the world which Keats and Flaubert and other men of genius have found so hard to bear was in her case not indifference but hostility. The world did not say to her as it said to them, Write if you choose; it makes no difference to me. The world said with a guffaw, Write? What's the good of your writing?”

“I didn’t get you the most powerful gem in the world just because I think you’re powerful,” he said with a teasing smile. “I got you the most powerful gem in the world because of us.”

“You're better equipped for this world than I am," she said. "I'm always trying to change the world. You know how to live in it.”