"Since there is not a single historic event we can count on being commonly known, I must speak of events that took place a few years ago," Part I, p. 10.

"He was in love with his destiny, and even his march toward ruin seemed noble and beautiful to him," Part I, p. 14.

"He wanted to efface her from the photograph of his life not because he had not loved her but because he had," Part I, p. 30.

"With eloquent concision, it expressed the entire situation of her life: everything Marketa did she did for Karel and because of Karel," Part II, p. 51.

"He longed to run away to a place where he could weave his own story, weave it by himself to his own taste and out of the reach of loving eyes. And deep down he did not even care about weaving himself a story, he simply...