We are all subject to the fates. But we must act as if we are not, or die of despair.

Then she was pressing her little proud broken self against his face, as close as she could get, and then they died.

Symbols and emblems were everywhere. Buildings and pictures were designed to be read like books. Everything stood for something else; if you had the right dictionary, you could read Nature itself. It was hardly surprising to find philosophers using the symbolism of their time to interpret knowledge that came from a mysterious source.

Thou Shalt Not is soon forgotten, but Once Upon a Time is forever.

For every once upon a time there must be a story to follow, because if a story doesn't, something else will, and it might not be as harmless as a story.

Being in love was like China: you knew it was there, and no doubt it was very interesting, and some people went there, but I never would.

But think of Adam and Eve like an imaginary number, like the square root of minus one: you can never see any concrete proof that it exists, but if you include it in your equations, you can calculate all manner of things that couldn't be imagined without it.