"A story is alive, as you and I are" (p. 1).

"Nothing is all you need to do, Shahrazad, my daughter. Being yourself is enough. For you are not the same as they are, and they can neither forgive or forget it" (p. 10).

"I should know my own value and never seek to be what I am not" (p. 20).

"For now he understood that it was not he, alone, who could be deceived. All men could be blinded by their faith in the women they loved" (p. 33).

"Though they are blind, my eyes see things no other eyes can, for that is the true skill of the drabardi" (p. 46).

"How can you travel so far from yourself and not even perceive that you are lost" (p. 72)

"Though you are a king, I see that you are still as many men are. You do not see what you have, but...