Soon I'll be thinner than all of you, she swore to herself. And then I'll be the winner. The thinner is the winner.

She began to be reassured by these pains, tangible symbols of her success in becoming thinner than anyone else. Her only identity was being "the skinniest." She had to feel it.

Self-mutilation is a frightening barrier that keeps us from seeing a person who is lost, in pain, and in desperate need of help.

Repetition brings familiarity, and familiarity is the opposite of the unknown.

How silly people were to eat. They thought they needed food for energy, but they didn't. Energy came from will, from self-control.

She'd lost two more pounds. A picture of the models she'd cut out of the magazine flashed through Kessa's mind. And the winner is... seventy-three!

The future belongs to us. I think that art is a force that can change the world.

She was like a fire-cracker standing too close to a match: all potential energy, still wrapped up so neatly. He wanted to watch her explode. Hell, he was the match. He wanted to make her explode.

Do you know why empires fall? Because they can no longer believe their own lies.

There’s no easier way to cure foolishness than to give a man leave to be foolish. And the only way to show a fellow that he’s chosen the wrong business is to let him try it.

There is no "right" way--only the way that is put before you.

At this time is freedom anything but the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.

We forgive just so long as we love.

I wouldn’t like to meet you when you’ve got a revolver,” said Margarita with a coquettish look at Azazello. She had a passion for people who did things well.

I like to surprise myself. I've always been attracted to projects where I don't know how they're going to turn out.