“Little one," Simon said after a prolonged silence, "why isn't it enough that I care for you and Elizabeth asI've never cared for anyone else? Are you truly going to toss what we could have away for a world ofstrangers that will never even appreciate your actions?”

“And we could have all this,' she said. 'And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible.''What did you say?''I said we could have everything.''We can have everything.''No, we can't.''We can have the whole world.''No, we can't.''We can go everywhere.''No, we can't. It isn't ours anymore.''It's ours.''No, it isn't. And once they take it away, you never get it back.”

“Alexandra sighed. "I have a feeling that if you go away, you will not come back. Something will happen to one of us, or to both. People have to snatch at happiness when they can, in this world. It is always easier to lose than to find. What I have is yours, if you care enough about me to take it.”

“I care about you," Simon said. "I always cared about you.”

“Wolf," said Ran, enunciating it very carefully. "What an unusual name. Did your parents give it to you?""Does it matter?" said Wolf, tossing away his bone."I'm only making conversation.""I'd prefer silence," Wolf said, a growl in his tone.”

“You know, you've never really cared about anyone," he said. "But someday you will, and it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt a lot.”