Danielle Ducrest

“I recalled something Dionysus had once told me about his twin sons, Castor and Pollux--back when he was living with his mortal wife during a short phase of "domestic bliss." He'd claimed that two was the best number for children, because after two, your children outnumbered you.”
― Rick Riordan, The Tower of Nero

“Nero was so good at being evil, and so evil at being good, he made the words lose their meaning. He could tell you the floor was the ceiling with such conviction you might start believing it, especially since any diagreement would unleash the Beast.

I marveled how such a man could rise to be emperor of Rome. Then I marveled how such a man could ever lose control of Rome. It was easy to see how he'd gotten the mobs on his side.”
― Rick Riordan, The Tower of Nero

“Most of the time he didn't even bother to look back at the boy struggling along behind him on his weary pony. He just tossed words over his shoulder and expected Ansel to catch them.”
― Philip Reeve, No Such Thing as Dragons

“Green in nature is one thing, green in literature another. Nature and letters seem to have a natural antipathy; bring them together and they tear each other to pieces. The shade of green Orlando now saw spoilt his rhyme and split his metre. Moreover, nature has tricks of her own. Once look out of a window at bees among flowers, at a yawning dog, at the sun setting, once think "how many more suns shall I see set," etc., etc. (the thought is too well known to be worth writing out) and one drops the pen, takes one's cloak, strides out of the room, and catches one's foot on a painted chest as one does so. For Orlando was a trifle clumsy.”
― Virginia Woolf, Orlando