The tears I gratified him with were fake ones. Ones that set off my green eyes the way diamonds set off emeralds. And it worked. If you dazzled a man with green eyes, he will be so hypnotized that he won’t notice there is someone inside the eyes spying on him. – Vida Winters Page 268

One gets so used to one's own horrors, one forgets how they must seem to other people.

Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother, but the rest of the time there was none. This story is about one of those other times.

I still believe in stories. I still forget myself when I am in the middle of a good book. Books are for me, it must be said, the most important thing.

I shall start at the beginning. Though of coarse, the beginning is never where you think it is.

One needs no particular talent to be polite. On the contrary, being nice is what's left when you've failed at everything else.

Though my appetite for food grew frail, my hunger for books was constant.