“Books are in the mind, Grandfather Alessandro said. Too many books and you forget your body is in the world.”

“God made man because he loves to hear stories, Alessandro said. That's a good story, huh?”

“That's when you stop being one way and start being another, Ruby said. Not something many people can do, or want to do. In fact, Ruby said, The only people who cross over, cross over because they're on some kind of Mission Impossible.I could no longer live and stay the way I was, I said.”

“All this family shit! Harry said. How can you reinvent your life if the original versions won't leave you alone?”

“At our table in the corner by the window, huddled around a flame in a red glass, all of us, body to body to body to body. The touch that proves you're not alone, that someone else is there.”

“The Shy Hunter is terrified that others will destroy the truth within his heart, Rose said, And so the Shy Hunter armours himself ... thus armoured, he watches and waits and studies the world meticulously, hunting the world for prey ... Prey not in the sense of devouring or murder, Rose said, But prey in the sense of hunting for sore truths within another human heart.”

“So put your costume on, honey! Ruby said. Set Harlequin free! That party monster of yours is screaming to come out. Let the monster out!”