They will stop calling brides beautiful after today—you have simply set the standard too high,' he said.

Things only looked wrong when there was someone to see you.

So this is how life was, she thought with a faint smile: It wore you down until you emerged at its wildest, most unexpected ends.

She was trying to sound tough and impatient, but she knew that vulnerable desire to be wooed was still brimming in her tone.

There was no pleasure like being envied on a mass scale.

We see our sins reflected everywhere: in the pallor of our intimates’ faces, in the scratching of tree branches against windows, in the strange movements of everyday objects. These may be messages from God or tricks of the eye, but in neither case are we permitted to ignore them.

Oh yes, well, I find myself unconventional everywhere.