In a certain reign there was a lady not of the first rank whom the emperor loved more than any of the others. The grand ladies with high ambitions thought her a presumptuous upstart, and lesser ladies were still more resentful. Everything she did offended someone.

Real things in the darkness seem no realer than dreams.

The memories of long love gather like drifting snow, poignant as the mandarin ducks who float side by side in sleep.

There is a tendency among men as well as women ... so soon as they have acquired a little knowledge of some kind, to want to display it to the best advantage.

In a certain reign there was a lady not of the first rank whom the emperor loved more than any of the others. The grand ladies with high ambitions thought her a presumptuous upstart, and lesser ladies were still more resentful. Everything she did offended someone.

Though the body moves, the soul may stay behind.

A night of endless dreams, inconsequent and wild, is this my life; none more worth telling than the rest.