Tangled Mind

Her hair is ruffled black feathers, it is slickery green snakes, it is as fluffy and lofty as frosting. Her eyes—one, two, three, four, maybe five—are as round and polished as green apples, are long tapered crimson slits, they are as flat white as sugar. She’s as narrow as nightfall, She’s as round as winter, She’s as tall as moonrise, She’s shorter than love. [loc. 1859]

...the rules of magic. Do as you will, but harm no one. What you give will be returned to you threefold. Fall in love whenever you can.
The last rule stopped Franny cold. "How is this possible?" she asked. "We're cursed."
"Anything whole can be broken," Isabelle told her. "And anything broken can be put back together again. That is the meaning of Abracadabra. I create what I speak." [loc. 695]

... alas the interpretation he did choose to believe was from a French Catholic Priest (of the Queen’s staff) who did convince him the Angel was in fact a Demon sent by evil Protestant forces to sway him from his true path. And thus the King decided to ignore the warning. [loc. 2462]

She realised with detached horror that she was in London – London – and soldiers were firing at will into a crowd of unarmed citizens. This wasn’t just an occupation. It was a tyranny. [loc. 3078]

Being a SecUnit sucked. I couldn’t wait to get back to my wild rogue rampage of hitching rides on bot-piloted transports and watching my serials. [loc. 1042]

"Do you think that the size of the book is justified by the complexity of the story?" Grey asked ...
"What is it -- twelve hundred pages? Aye, I think so. After all, it is difficult to sum up the complications of a life in a short space with any hope of constructing an accurate account."
"True. I have heard the point made, though, that the novelist's skill lies in the artful selection of detail. Do you not suppose that a volume of such length may indicate a lack of discipline in such selection, and hence a lack of skill?"
"...In this case ... I think it isna so. Each character is most carefully considered, and all the incidents chosen seem necessary to the story." [p. 168. Jamie and John are discussing Samuel Richardson's Pamela -- or are they?!]

'Kindness and honor? That’s all well – but what of love?’
Grey valued love – and feared it – too greatly to make idle protestations. ‘You cannot compel love,’ he said finally, ‘nor summon it at will. Still less,’ he added ruefully, ‘can you dismiss it.’ [p. 260]

John knew where he was with iron, or salt, or a sulky furnace. He knew where he was with his sigils and herbs. But he was trained for industry, for the painstaking preparations and day-to-day drudgery of factory magic. And now he was caught in a morass of mystery and magic and lust, and he was out of his depth. [loc. 1972]

The Strand was a wide thoroughfare with imposing tall frontages, fit for the capital of empire; Holywell Street was its disreputable, drink-sodden uncle with his trouser buttons undone. [loc. 479]