Throwing blondes at Locke Lamora was not unlike throwing lettuce at sharks.

Are you smarter than a pig, Locke?” “On occasion,” said Locke. “There are contrary opinions.

My name's Jean Tannen, and I'm the ambush.

Stand aside, and try not to catch fire if I shed sparks of genius.

If reassurances could dull pain, nobody would ever go to the trouble of pressing grapes.

Advice,' Doña Vorchenza chuckled. 'Advice. The years play a sort of alchemical trick, transmuting one's mutterings to a state of respectability. Give advice at forty and you're a nag. Give it at seventy and you're a sage.

The only constant in the soul of man is inconstancy; anything and everything else can pass out of fashion-even something as utilitarian as a hill stuffed full of corpses.