Best Of Costanza Casati's "Babylonia"

Here is a selection of memorable quotes from Babylonia by Costanza Casati



He believes this is where his weakness comes from. You can't give a man the feeling of being understood, then snatch it away from him: he'll spend the rest of his life searching.

p. 46


Some mortal lives drift aimlessly, like lost souls; others are tied to their destinies, as two lovers are tied to each other. Semiramis knows nothing about love, but she understands desire. It can bring nothing, or it can give everything.

p. 60


Her brother used to say that she always wanted to bend the world to her will. He was right. But some people cannot be bent.

And so she can either break them or let them go.

p. 200


He remembers something Sasi once told him: that the fatal moment is the one that comes before a mistake, when you know you could walk away but you won’t.

p. 257


She raises an eyebrow. "As much as I like and respect you, an ally's greatest quality is loyalty, which I do not think you are capable of."

He smiles, amused. "You are wrong. An ally's greatest gift is honesty, which friends and lovers can never give, caught as they are in their webs of commitment and fealty."

As always, he is right. "You need not worry about me," she says.

p. 287


"One can tell a lot about a man from the people he obsesses over. It tells you something about what he lacks.”

p. 293


What is love? Now, years later, he understands.

Love is the willingness to lose oneself, to enter a dark room without knowing what dangers lie inside, to be held by someone even if she could slit your throat.

p. 299


Taria takes a step back, bows. "I will not see you again, but I know you will do great things. Remember that glory and danger often taste the same. All they leave behind is bitterness."

p. 316


Humans have only a single lifetime. How can they truly understand love?

Those who believe they can are even more lost than the rest.

p. 340


Loving her sometimes feels like looking at the sun, feeling the warmth on his skin but never being able to see its true shape, for it is too blinding.

p. 369


There is something grim in Sasi's quiet laugh. "That is how obsession blinds. It makes one think one is the only person in another's world. But our greatest mistake is to think that obsession comes with loyalty. It doesn’t.

p. 410


"What will you do when she tires of you?" he asks. "When her heart turns elsewhere?"

Sasi stops. When he turns again, the sun is in his face, and for a moment he seems to have no features. "I will change, of course. I will be a different man, the one she will need. That is the secret to survival: to keep transforming into something else. The heart of a lion, the skill of a snake, the wings of a bird-such a slippery creature can never be caught."

p. 411


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