“I am worn out with civility.” Henry Crawford to Fanny, near the end of her first ball.

“I have been talking incessantly all night, and with nothing to say.” Henry Crawford to Fanny.

“Let us have the luxury of silence.” Still Henry Crawford.

“They are all going away, I think. I wish they would stay at home. Lady Bertram, after Sir Thomas gives Julia permission to stay longer with her sister.

“It is every body’s duty to do as well for themselves as they can.” Mary Crawford’s philosophy.

“Ask her to love you, and she will never have the heart to refuse.” Edmond’s advice to Henry Crawford.

“For Zhaim, having power and not using it was a form of weakness. And the weak neither survived nor deserved to.” Homecoming, by Sue Ann Bowling. Zhaim is rationalizing, as usual. He’s the villain of Homecoming, but he himself sees his actions as acceptable, even noble. (Not a spoiler, as the first scene shows him as a torturer through the eyes of one of his victims. He thinks he’s a misunderstood artist in human flesh.)