Once more, the silence seemed to them so profound, so ominous, that they felt as though they could inhale it together with the air. (chapter 2) - Marie Vieux-Chauvet

How can I convince her that only the most base people of any social class pay attention to gossip? (p75)

I am afraid to face the fact that, no matter what you do, man is a wolf to man. More than anyone else I know, I have the desire to stand firm and fight for a good cause. But not with weapons. With my ideas. My hand extended in brotherhood, offering a fresh and sober example. I would follow anyone who passed austerity laws to halt run-way decadence and the vanity of unchecked ambition; I would support whoever could abolish hunger and poverty, prison cells and torture, who would treat every man as a man and include everyone in the national dialogue. If I decide not to belong to any party, if I wish to remain free, then let that choice be mine. Alone and unarmed, I want the right to plead for justice and freedom and to shout from the rooftops that which I believe to be the truth... (chapter 13)

"He lives in sin," my mother explained to me, "and sin is contagious." (p93)