Quite suddenly Meggie felt fear rise in her like black brackish water, she felt lost, terribly lost, she felt it in every part of her. She didn't belong here! What had she done?

It's a good idea to have your own books with you in a strange place

Children are caterpillars and adults are butterflies. No butterfly ever remembers what it felt like being a caterpillar.

What are stories for if we don't learn from them?

My dear Elinor, you were obviously born into the wrong story,” said Dustfinger at last.

How fast the ears learned to tell what sounds meant, much faster than it took the eyes to decipher written words.

They wouldn't tell Scipio how much of the counterfeit cash was left since, as Riccio put it, 'You're a detective now, after all.