Clemente

“The boy registered them but didn’t answer, already turned inward. He was counting backward from a thousand in multiples of four while working multiplication tables of seven until they met.”
― William Kely McClung, Black Fire

“Individual Desirability / Aggregate Desirability = Your Desirability Ratio

The higher a relationship’s Desirability Ratio, the more stable a relationship will be. If a relationship’s Desirability Ratio drops below one for either partner, the relationship becomes very likely to dissolve.

To put that in other words: When your partner is much more desirable to you than their “league” would suggest, and when this dynamic is mutual (i.e., each partner values the other more than society on average values that other partner), your relationship will be uniquely stable. However, if either partner values the other less than that person would be valued on an open market, the relationship becomes unstable.”
― Malcolm Collins, The Pragmatist's Guide to Relationships

“Ragna hesitated. She had known this moment would come. “My Lady, your son Alberon is the father of our child and he has sworn to me that we will be married.”
― Robert Reid, The Emperor

“When he had repeated them often enough, they became a decision.”
― Norton Juster, Alberic the Wise