Mars

“We pass more women with swollen bellies hurrying towards the godshouse and Arjuro presses a kiss to Tariq's outstretched fingers.

'She's mocking me, runt of our litter,' Arjuro tells him. 'The Oracle is mocking me for choosing a man to share my bed. And her punishment is that I spend the rest of eternity staring between the legs of women.”
― Melina Marchetta, Quintana of Charyn

“Because without our language, we have lost ourselves. Who are we without our words?”
― Melina Marchetta, Finnikin of the Rock

“He takes out a cigarette and offers one to me.
"I try not to indulge. It's a filthy habit," I tell him.
"I love that word filthy. I love the way you force it out of your mouth like it's some kind of vermin you want to get rid of."
"You've had vermin in your mouth?"
"You're mean in that way, you know. You don't let anyone get away with pathetic analogies.”
― Melina Marchetta, Saving Francesca

“Is your queen what you are searching for in a woman, Froi?"

"I never imagined I was looking for something in a woman. But if I did, I'd have to judge her by the way I felt laying beside her before I went to sleep at night and how I felt in the morning waking up to her."

"Oh, too profound, my friend. Much too profound.”
― Melina Marchetta, Froi of the Exiles