Status Updates From Ifigenia

You and I are joined intrinsically, and we belong to each other because that is what nature decreed when it conceded us the very rare privilege of being united in true love. It is the most sacred and respectable of all privileges and treasures ever granted.

While he was saying this with apparent calm, Gabriel’s whole being radiated such forceful attraction and authority that I, like a poor dove fascinated by death, felt nothing save a vehement desire for the eagle’s claws to bear me away from this desert where I live. Even though it were only to then rip me apart and torment me, and cruelly devour me in a bloody banquet.

Just why, Maria Eugenia, must you always mix holy things, godly things, with your nonsense?
This is the second time now that you’ve said that foolishness about how you'll be applying lipstick on Judgment Day!

Because innocence, which I never have possessed
absolutely, thank God, is the most negative, the most dangerous, and the
most foolish of all conditions.

'Fine!' said Uncle Pancho, laughing again uproariously. 'I see, Maria Eugenia, from that chilling estimate, that you value yourself most dearly! Oh! You are clearly conscious of your own worth, an indispensable condition for gaining value in the eyes of the world. You're right. If we want others to give us a little esteem, we must begin by esteeming ourselves a lot. Never forget that'.