the possession of power brings on madness.

The law should be the point at which savagery ended because civilization stood in its path.

The scar, and her indifference to it, did something extraordinary for her, just as damage to some art object threw into relief how beautiful it had once been, tarnishing and tempering her face with the reminder of what humanity did to lovely things and how they bore it.

Crime, after all, can be a way of establishing identity or acquiring security - at least the magistrate addresses you by name.

Love- however doomed, had the capacity to attach bouys to the soul.

the possession of power brings on madness.

Alcoholism plus criminality plus whatever caused both in the first place form a combination that is very nearly happy-ending-proof.