“Wounded vanity can make a woman more vindictive than a lioness robbed of her cubs.”

“The woman who opens the door has a blue stain on her shirt and dark hair wound into a messy knot and the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. They're pale, like a lioness's, nearly golden, but they also look like they've done their fair share of crying, and we all know that a sky with clouds in it is much more interesting than one that doesn't have any.”

“If a lioness spends her hours pacing back and forth in a cage of gold with the finest meats at her disposal, does that make her any less of a prisoner? If that same feline’s fangs are filed down to blunt, un-tearing teeth and her roar is silenced, can she still be called a lioness?”

“The lioness in Rome is quiet. I will not wake her to seek more money.”

“Pride only helps us to be generous; it never makes us so, any more than vanity makes us witty.”

“More than anything." Rob persisted. "You'd crawl on your belly over broken glass for her. Easy.”