"It is a mother's duty to teach her daughters about the uses of blood, particularly a magical daughter."
- Zen Cho
"The woman leant forward, her eyes flashing, a smile both triumphant and tender curving her mouth."You are *my* daughter," she said. "Can there be any doubt that you will be brilliant -- audacious -- a..."
"What are acquaintance for, if not to supply the pleasures of gossip?"
"... it is strange to know you would be cast off by the people who greet you so warmly, if they knew the whole truth about you."
"Whether I'm a good wife doesn't have anything to do with what he was like."
"Magic ran in the family. Even her mother's second cousin, who was adopted, did small spells on the side. She sold these from a stall in Kota Bharu. Her main wares were various types of fruit fried in ..."
"Are you going? What shall you wear?""I shall go in what I am standing in," said Mak Genggang. "A witch is always appropriate whatever her attire."
"The aunts’ conception of the right to privacy went far enough to allow you to close the toilet door when you were peeing, but no further."
"I might go anywhere and do any magic I pleased if I were Peter, not Prunella."
"I can speak four dialects, but none of them is fairy language."