Vivienne

“I know what’s wrong with me; and knowing your own flaws is the beginning of wisdom.”
― Gardner R. Dozois, The Book of Swords

“Making each other’s tea was half the reason they had such a happy marriage.”
― Saladin Ahmed, Throne of the Crescent Moon

“Don’t be out of temper, my dear,’ urged Fagin, submissively. ‘I have never forgot you, Bill; never once.’
‘No! I’ll pound it that you han’t,’ replied Sikes, with a bitter grin. ‘You’ve been scheming and plotting away, every hour that I have laid shivering and burning here; and Bill was to do this; and Bill was to do that; and Bill was to do it all, dirt cheap, as soon as he got well: and was quite poor enough for your work. If it hadn’t been for the girl, I might have died.’
‘There now, Bill,’ remonstrated Fagin, eagerly catching at the word. ‘If it hadn’t been for the girl! Who but poor ould Fagin was the means of your having such a handy girl about you?’
‘He says true enough there!’ said Nancy, coming hastily forward. ‘Let him be; let him be.”
― Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

“In the second place, whatever the Lady had intended by by telling them about Harfang, the actual effect on the children was a bad one They could think about nothing but beds and baths and hot meals and how lovely it would be to get indoors. They never talked about Aslan, or even about the lost prince, now. And Jill gave up her habit of repeating the signs over to herself every night and morning. She said to herself, at first, that she was too tired, but she soon forgot all about it. And though you might have expected that the idea of having a good time at Harfang would have made them more cheerful, it really made them more sorry for themselves and more grumpy and snappy with each other and with Puddleglum.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair