"Vietnam...war...it did something to us. Or maybe not. Maybe the bad seeds were always in me, and war gave them a dark place in which to grow."
"A daughter without her mother is a woman broken. It is a loss that turns to arthritis and settles deep into her bones."
"A WOMAN'S PLACE IS IN THE HOUSE...AND THE SENATE."
"The measure of a society is its compassion."
"She remembered how it had felt and tasted, that slowly descending depression, like a thick glass jar that closed around you, sucking away the air you needed to breathe, creating a barrier between you and the world. The hell of it was that she'd been able to see all that she was missing, but when she'd reached out, all she'd touched was cold, hard glass."
"Caro: "Bite me."Ruby: "I gave that up in kindergarten."
"A generous donor (who had no doubt lived a life that imperiled his mortal soul) had granted [the Sisters] more than one hundred waterfront acres."
"She pouted prettily, and he wondered if that was one of the things they taught wealthy young girls at schools like Miss Porter's. If not, it had been passed down from one generation to another as carefully as the secret of fire."