“I have not wept since the death of my parents," said Luxa quietly. "But I am thought to be unnatural in this respect.”

“Last night I wept. I wept because the process by which I have become woman was painful. I wept because I was no longer a child with a child's blind faith. I wept because my eyes were opened to reality....I wept because I could not believe anymore and I love to believe. I can still love passionately without believing. That means I love humanly. I wept because I have lost my pain and I am not yet accustomed to its absence.”

“What say you, Luxa?" said Vikus."What can I say, Vikus? Can I return to our people and tell them I withdrew from the quest when our survival hangs in the balance?" said Luxa bitterly."Of course you cannot, Luxa. This is why he times it so," said Henry."You could choose to - " started Vikus."I could choose! I could choose!" retorted Luxa. " Do not offer me a choice when you know none exits!" She and Henry turned their backs on Vikus.”

“I love words,” said Livvie. “I have always loved and respected words . . . since a long time ago.”

“What's wrong?" he said. "I'll tell you what's wrong: you're killing us.""But I thought that's what you wanted?""We did," my mother wept, "but not this way."It hadn't occurred to me until that moment, but I seemed to have come full circle. What started as a dodge had inadvertently become my life's work, an irony I never could have appreciated had my extraordinary parents not put me through Princeton.”

“I wept because I could not believe anymore and I love to believe. I can still love passionately without believing. That means I love humanly. I wept because from now on I will weep less. I wept because I have lost my pain and I am not yet accustomed to its absence.”