He owe his wife a debt he couldn't hope to pay with any coin save one: open the cage and let the bird fly. - Colleen McCullough

Caesar’s kindnesses are conscious, done for Caesar’s benefit, and Caesar no longer sees the world as a place wherein magical things can occur. Because they can’t. Men and women ruin it with their impulses, desires, thoughtlessness, lack of intelligence and cupidity.

Her tears were blinding her, the grief in her heart new, for until now she had never owned anything worth grieving for.

There are no ambitions noble enough to justify breaking someone's heart.