Cassandra Clare

"I recall what you said to me once, that words have the power to change us. Your words have changed me, Tess; they have made me a better man than I would have been otherwise. Life is a book, and there are a thousand pages I have not yet read. I would read them together with you, as many as I can, before I die."

"When two people are at one in their inmost hearts, they shatter even the strength of iron or bronze."

"'No glamour?' Magnus inquired. 'You said that you wanted me to join you on travels that would be a ceaseless round of debauchery,' Ragnor told him. Magnus beamed. 'I did!' He paused. 'Forgive me. I do not see the connection.' 'I have found I have better luck with the ladies in my natural state,' Ragnor told him. 'Ladies enjoy a bit of variety. There was a woman in the court of Louis the Sun King who said none could compare to her "dear little cabbage." I hear it's become quite a popular term of endearment in France. All thanks to me.'"

"Don't worry. I can teach you every word that you need to know right now. One of them is fiesta. "What does that mean?" "It means 'party' Another important word is juerga. "What does that word mean? [...] Magnus, does that word also mean 'party?'" "I would apologize, except that I feel no regret at all."

"Try to be a little sensible." "We're on holiday!" "You're always on holiday. You've been on holiday for thirty years!" "I can't get enough adventure. And adventure can't get enough of me."

"He paused and admired the bromeliads, huge iridescent flower-like bowls made out of petals, shimmering with color and water. There were frogs inside the jewel-bright recesses of the flowers. Then he looked up into the round brown eyes of a monkey. 'Hello, companion,' said Magnus. The monkey made a terrible sound, half snarl and half hiss. 'I begin to rather doubt the beauty of our friendship,' said Magnus."

"But of course you should have retreated at once from the dominant male. Are you an idiot? You are extremely lucky he was distracted from ripping out your throat by the fruit. He thought you were trying to steal his females." "Pardon me, but we did not have the time to exchange that kind of personal information. I could not have known! Moreover, I wish to assure both of you that I did not make any amorous advances on female monkeys. [...] I didn't actually see any, so I didn't get the chance."

"You could not tell a potential customer, expecting a learned and ancient magician, that you were not eve fully grown. Magnus had started lying about his age young, and had never dropped the habit. It did get a little embarrassing sometimes when he forgot what lie he'd told to whom. Someone had once asked him what Julius Caeser was like, and Magnus had stared at him for much too long and said, 'Not tall?'"

"It is something to remember, if we feel distant from humans. We owe a great deal to human love. We live forever by the grace of human love, which rocked strange children in their cradles and did not despair and did not turn away. I know which side of my heritage my soul comes from. Our fathers were demons. Our mothers were heroes."