“She was as one who, in madness, was resolute to throw herself from a precipice, but to whom some remnant of sanity remained which forced her to seek those who would save her from herself.”

“There is not a woman born who desires to eat the bread of dependence, no matter whether it be from the hand of father, husband, or brother; for anyone who does so eat her bread places herself in the power of the person from whom she takes it.”

“In such a way she had done what her people prized above all else: she had given her respect to those different from herself.”

“She's talking about herself in the third person because the idea of being who she is, of acknowledging that she is herself, is more than her pride can take.”

“Once, there was a girl who vowed she would save everyone in the world, but forgot herself.”

“She could only realize that she herself — her present self — was in some way different from the other self. That she was seeing with different eyes.”

“There's something about her," Caire said in a low voice. "She cares for everyone about her, yet neglects herself. I want to be the one who cares for her.”

“Let her who is forty call herself forty; but if she can be young in spirit at forty, let her show that she is so.”

“No one looked at her, no one thought of her. She felt herself swallowed up in the scorn of these virtuous creatures, who had first sacrificed, then rejected her as a thing useless and unclean.”

“She wins who calls herself beautiful and challenges the world to change to truly see her.”