“No one in life can ever match fiction”

“I can promise that even having an imperfect one who loves you is better than having none at all.”

“Has it ever occurred to you that married couples endure watching their spouses grow old and feeble and senile all the time? That it's part of marriage? A hard part, to be sure, but not so hard that one just gives up on the institution altogether.”

“No one had ever told them they were worth saving, and they were taught to believe they were forever lost to a world of thievery, prostitution and murder. But it wasn’t true. They were capable of more. She could tell from the way some of them helped each other, the way others sat down at once to begin sewing, the way Ann took aside one of the little boys and patiently showed him how to pick a pocket—”

“Watch it, minx," he warned with a lift of his brow. "If you intend to taunt me for every foolish statement I've made in my life, you'll force me to play Rockton and lock you up in my dark, forbidding manor while I have my wicked way with you."That sounds perfectly awful,"she said gazing at the man she loved. "How soon can we start?”

“I can think of only one good solution to this dilemma," Diego said, having spent the entire night developing a plan.You sneak into the school and carry her off?" Gaspar quipped.That is the not-so-good solution. And it would be very difficult to sneak into a house full of women without raising an alarm."A cloud descended on Gaspar's brow. "I was not serious. Kidnapping is not a choice.”

“I love you, Minerva. I love that you believe in me no matter what. I love how you take whatever you see and distill it into your books. I love your clever mind and your generous heart and every inch of your beautiful body. I love you even when you give me heart failure, by risking your life before my very eyes." He smiled tenderly. "I only hope in time I can prove worthy of your love.”