“A convention has to be something that more than one person is moved to take hold of. It's a convention to call your sweetheart "dumplin" or "honeybun." It would also be a convention to call her "gulag," if she would stand for it, which she won't, and why would you want to be around someone who would?”

“She was not quite what you would call refined.
She was not quite what you would call unrefined.
She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot.”

“But realistically, we don’t have that many problems at QuakeCon. If it was a football convention or something, there would probably be a lot more incidents.”

“she wanted to dance with someone who would embrace her in the way she dreamed of since adolescence.”

“Marrying her to prove I do not subscribe to an outdated convention of class would be just as foolish as refusing to marry her because I did.”

“Would to God, brethren, I could tell you who I am! Would to God I could tell you what I know! But you would call it blasphemy, and there are men upon this stand who would want to take my life.”

“Why would she make calls out the blue?
Now I'm awake, sleepless in you.”

“As long as people are going to call you lunatic anyway, why not get the benefit of it? It liberates you from convention.”

“No one has to know. No one would. It would be her secret, one she would share with the mountains only. The question is whether it is a secret she can live with, and Parwana thinks she knows the answer. She has lived with secrets all her life.”

“No one is more conventional than a woman who is falling out of love.”