A library is never complete. That’s the joy of it. We are always seeking one more book to add to our collection.

This is what comes of having a heart, even a very small and young one. It causes no end of trouble, and that’s the truth.

I will not let her speak because I love her, and when you love someone, you do not make them tell war stories. A war story is a black space. On the one side is before and on the other side is after, and what is inside belongs only to the dead.

That stirring which had fluttered in her on first glimpsing the sea—that stirring landlocked children know so well—moved in her now, with the golden stars over head, and the green fireflies glinting on the wooded shore. She carefully unfolded the stirring that she had so tightly packed away. It billowed out like a sail, and she laughed, despite herself, despite hunger and hard things ahead.

I savor bitterness - it is born of experience. It is the privilege of one who has truly lived.

Marya pinned out her childhood like a butterfly. She considered it the way a mathematician considers an equation.

Woman! Come out! I have—" She looked down at the bloodless grass, embarrassed. "I have come to rescue you," she finally said, as if admitting that she were covered in boils.