“I held a nail in place and slammed it with the hammer. Best. Chore. Ever.”

“There is darkness in light, there is pain in joy, and there are thorns on the rose.”

“Then what's the point of trying if you can't even win?""You win in lots of different ways," Asher said. "Lots of little wins. The point of this life is not to be good all the time. It's to be as good as you can. No one is perfect. No one does it right all the time. That's not what life is.”

“At that moment I remembered something Cal had told me: that there is beauty in darkness in everything. Sorrow in joy, life and death, thorns on the rose. I knew then that I could not escape pain and torment any more than I could give up joy and beauty”

“There is beauty and darkness in everything. Sorrow in joy, life in death, thorns on the rose.”

“The Goddess teaches us that every ending is also a beginning. May there be rebirth from this death.”

“Have you ever seen a god laugh? It makes you catch your breath and feel hopeful and shivery and excited all at the same time. That's how it was watching Cal.”

“Because you are in the middle of becoming who you will be. It isn't going to be easy. You may need help. So feel free to ask us for it.”

“Being good is something that one must choose over and over again, every day, throughout the day, for the rest of one's life," Asher said. "A day is made of a thousand decisions, most small, some huge. With each decision you have the chance to work toward light, or sink toward darkness.”

“I looked deeply into the fire, and the timeless, eternal dance of colors I saw there was so beautiful, I wanted to cry. Cal's deep voice floated toward me as clearly as a whisper in a tunnel, as if his words were meant for me alone, and the found me unerringly even as the group dissolved into talking. He said the words under his breath, his gaze fixed on my face. "I banish loneliness.”

“Anytime you feel love for anything, be it stone, tree, lover, or child, you are touched by the Goddess's magick...”