I am very fond of Edith Wharton. She's quite high brow but also a great storyteller. My favorite is 'The House of Mirth.' I also like 'The Reef.

We’re all good when it suits us, he used to say: that doesn’t count. It’s when you want so badly to do something wrong—when you’re about to make a fortune from a dishonest deal, or kiss the lovely lips of your neighbor’s wife, or tell a lie to get yourself out of terrible trouble—that’s when you need the rules. Your integrity is like a sword, he would say: you shouldn’t wave it until you’re about to put it to the test.

A baby was like a revolution, Grigori thought: you could start one, but you could not control how it would turn out.

There is no point in asking a man a question until you have established whether he has any reason to lie to you.

She wanted to say 'I love you like a thunderstorm, like a lion, like a helpless rage'.

You never know," Jack said speculatively. "There may come a time when savages like William Hamleigh aren't in power; when the laws protect the ordinary people instead of enslaving them; when the king makes peace instead of war. Think of that - a time when towns in England don't need walls!

Trusting someone was like holding a little water in your cupped hands - it was so easy to spill the water, and you could never get it back.