"Pulvis et umbra sumus. It's a line from Horace. 'We are dust and shadows'. Appropriate, don't you think?"Will said. "It's not a long life, killing demons; one tends to die young, and then they burn your body - dust to dust, in the literal sense. And then we vanish into the shadows of history, nary a mark on the page of a mundane book to remind the world that once we existed at all."
"It was odd, (Tessa thought), what brought out tenderness in people."
"Sometimes, when I have to do something I don't want to do, I pretend I'm a character from a book. It's easier to know what they would do."
"Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry."
"You know,"Gabriel said, "there was a time I thought we could be friends, Will.""There was a time I thought I was a ferret,"Will said, "but that turned out to be the opium haze. Did you know it had that effect? Because I didn't."
"Will rolled up his sleeves. "We'll probably have to knock down the door--""Or,"said Jem, reaching out and giving the knob a twist, "not."The door swung open onto a rectangle of darkness. "Now, that's simply laziness,"said Will."