The Devil's Arithmetic (1988)

• Know, my son, that the enemy will always be with you. He will be in the shadow of your dreams and in your living flesh, for he is the other part of yourself.
  • p. 143
• Overhead the swallows dipped down to catch bugs rising from the ground. Then they soared back up beyond the barracks. Hannah watched them for a moment, scarcely breathing. It was as if all nature ignored what went on in the camp. There were brilliant sunsets and soft breezes. Around the commandant’s house, bright flowers were teased by the wind. Once she’d seen a fox cross the meadow to disappear into the forest.
  • p. 154

Briar Rose (1992)

All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published in November 1993 by Tor ISBN 0-812-55862-6

• She filled the pot, got out a new filter, threw the old one onto the garbage, and counted out five tablespoons of Columbian Supreme. Then she waited while the magic of modern invention turned tap water into a hot dark-brown caffeine-powered drink. It was better than any Biblical miracle and risked no beliefs.
  • Chapter 8 (p. 43)

• “I’ll drive. You navigate.” He grinned. “I judge people by how well they read maps.”
  • Chapter 12 (p. 65)

• Time may heal wounds, but it does not erase the scars.
  • Chapter 12 (p. 72)

• “Will you write the story?”
  “If there is one.”
  “Happy ending or no?” He was serious.
  She attempted a smile. “Fairy tales always have a happy ending.”
  He leaned back in his chair. “That depends.”
  “On what?”
  “On whether you are Rumplestiltskin or the Queen.”
  • Chapter 16 (p. 91)

• She hated to lie but she hated arguments even more.
  • Chapter 16 (p. 93)

• It is not crazy to want to know the past. It is only crazy to live there, like so many of the aristocracy.
  • Chapter 24 (p. 131)

• Wars do not make heroes of everyone.
  • Chapter 25 (p. 146)

• Wars may make heroes of men, but not all the time.
  • Chapter 25 (p. 146)

• “We are all sleeping princesses some time. But it is better to be fully awake, don’t you think?”...“Americans do not want to be awake?”
  “Oh,” Becca said, “we like the truth all right. When it’s tidy.”
  “Truth is never tidy. Only fairy tales.”
  • Chapter 32 (p. 196; ellpsis represents elision of a brief narrative section)