"You are my butterfly and refuse to set you free."

"What are you doing?' 'Ya!' said Jane, whirling around, her hands held up menacingly. It was Mr. Nobley with coat, hat, and cane, watching her with wide eyes. Jane took several quick (but oh so casual) steps away from Martin's window. 'Um, did I just say, 'Ya'?' 'You just said 'Ya,' he confirmed. 'If I am not mistaken, it was a battle cry, warning that you were about to attack me.I, uh...' She stopped to laugh. 'I wasn't aware until this precise and awkward moment that when startled in a startled in a strange place, my instincts would have me pretend to be a ninja."

"And Isi always listened, never told Enna she had been foolish, never said hollow things like 'You'll be all right.' . . . Isi saw Enna's struggle and her sadness, and she understood."

"I don't know how you persist in being so stubborn-'It's a superpower. I was bitten by a radioactive mule."

"Careful with the accusations of insanity, oh my lady whose home is a tower with windows of brick, all for the sake of some skinny-ankled, laugh-prone boy of a khan."

"Charlotte wondered if she would have recognized the crazy much earlier if he looked more like Steve Buscemi then Mr. Medieval Hotness."

"The first building she reached appeared to be an old barn. Only one young guard stood before its bolted door, staring at her with wide eyes, holding up his sword in defense, She heated his sword and he dropped it, his expression barely changing, as if he had been expecting that. She held up her two swords to his throat, but they were two heavy, so she dropped one and held the other with both hands. 'Where are the two Bayern boys kept?' The soldier shook his head. BURN HIM, prompted the fire. The excitement of burning was simmering in her, heating her up for more action."

"You're better than seven years of food. You're better than windows. You're even better than the sky."

"We found it!' Charlotte yelled, as they ran back through the house. 'We found it, we found it!'Eddie, Mr. Mallery, and Colonel Andrews came from separate directions, converging in the front hall. Miss Charming was hopping up and down, her bosom nearly rising to slap her own forehead."

"I wonder if everyone who faces death hurts like this. It's as though for the first time I realize how much just being alive makes my body ache. But I don't want that ache to stop."

"I'm not bossy - I just happen to be more capable than most everyone else."

"The snow was too light to stay, the ground too warm to keep it. And the strange spring snow fell only in that golden moment of dawn, the turning of the page between night and day."

"I keep thinking about a tale my nurse used to read to me about a bird whose wings are pinned to the ground. In the end, when he finally frees himself, he flies so high he becomes a star. My nurse said the story was about how we all have something that keeps us down."

"There you go...let it all slide out. Unhappiness can't stick in a person's soul when it's slick with tears."

"Sometimes my fancy gets to floating inside me, threatening to carry me away like a leaf on a wind. Better to be a stone."

"I'm Razo, a member of Bayern's Own,' he said, stopping himself from adding 'Loafing is just a hobby of mine.'Bayern's Own? But you're a child.' Razo looked up to the sky. 'I'm not a child, I'm just short."

"Clearly she was expected to say something, but panic at having to speak stole the thoughts from her head."

"If we're mad, we're mad in large numbers, at least larger than yours."

"Look no farther than your hand,Make a choice and take a stand."

"They weren't nice words he said. He could've lived a good life and died never having made a person feel rubbed down to bones and too sad to hold together."

"I'm a terrible prince. I should put my kingdom first and everything else second, but your first. I want you by my side every second, but I know I would crumble if I lost you."

"Get back in my cot, girl,' said Gilsa. 'You're sickly.'No, I'm not,' said Ani.Oh, no? Well, maybe stubbornness is a sickness, did you ever think of that?"

"And this is where I'll end, before I know what happens next."

"You don't need luck. You are powerful, clever, and fearless."

"Why was the judgement of the disapproving so valuable? Who said that their good opinions tended to be any more rational than those of generally pleasant people?"

"Razo hopped back up and adopted a posture that said he was completely unruffled, never had been, and in fact was ready to do something manly like lift boulders or swallow live worms."

"Miri took genuine comfort in studying Mathematics that day. She could sort numbers into two simple ideas: true and not true. Unlike numbers, words were rarely just one thing. They moved and changed, camouflaging and leaping out unexpectedly. Words were slippery and alive; words wrestled out of her grip and became something new. Words were dangerous."

"I know I would crumble if I lost you."

"Being a writer is a good, good thing."

"Mama used to say, you have to know someone a thousand days before you can glimpse her soul."

"Yes, we'll yell, 'Help, help us, goose girl, and bring the terrifying legion of warrior geese'."

"Giving into despair was like eating poisonous berries to keep from feeling hungry."

"I think sometimes, being silent and watching, can change a person."

"No wolf falters before the bite, so strike.No hawk wavers before the dive, so swing.No sun pauses before the set, just strike.No rain delays before the fall, just swing."

"A castle of defense, a bastion of mightA fort where the wise teach the young to fightAn armory of weapons, sharp as hooksAre wrapped in leather and shelved as books."

"There's nothing more aggravating in the world than the midnight sniffling of the person you've decided to hate."

"It doesn't seem to matter what we think...The prince will come up here and look at us as if we're barrels in a trader's wagon. And if I'm salt pork and he doesn't care for salt pork, then there's nothing I can do."

"You saw my leg?'How can a man help what he sees?' he said. 'And, if I could add, you possess a very fine leg."

"Personally, I believe 'Young Adult to be an arbitrary title that means the book 'Can be enjoyed by anyone/Has a main character who's not quite an adult/Isn't really boring."

"First thing is that I love you. And the second thing is that as much as I honor your former profession, I don't think your geese care much for your betrothed and I hope they hadn't any plans on sharing our bed."

"If it had been a color, it might have been green. If it had touched her ears, it might have sounded rhythmic, like the creak of a rocking chair or drone of a bee. If it had a scent, it might have been sweet and drowsy, like fresh pine on the fire."

"Maybe I got a few words wrong, but that's so near how the conversation went, I'm going to call it truth."

"Even the jerks earn some of our affection. We can be glad they're gone and yet still mourn the good parts."

"It's good to cry a bit, 'cause that helps us get through the rough parts. And the winter is though, there's no doubt. But we just hang on until spring when that ache will be all but swallowed up."

"He had a dashing smile. It nearly dashed right off his face."

"Do you know the feeling you get when you are awakened in the middle of a dream? The dream story is still real and full of color, but the waking world is rushing back into your mind. And for a moment both worlds are true, and you cannot quite tell them apart."

"What she had long believed was not true, and now the world was wide open to discover what was.It is like all my life I thought the sky was green."

"I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles."

"A cat can make you feel well rested when you're tired or turn a rage into a calm just by sitting on your lap. His very nearness is a healing song."

"Seriously, a thirty-something woman shouldn't be daydreaming about a fictional character in a two-hundred-year-old world to the point where it interfered with her very real and much more important life and relationships. Of course she shouldn't."