So I learned two things that night, and the next day, from him: the perfection of a moment, and the fleeting nature of it.

History existed to be retold, with more panache but not necessarily greater accuracy.

I knew that a man was not only himself but also who he wished to be.

They'll try to make you forget who you are or try to make you ashamed. But you mustn't forget and you mustn't be ashamed.

The curves of his smile become the waves in my ocean.

You must make a choice,” the Goddess said.“Is that my only choice – to choose between men?” I asked. “I want what Mother had!”“Your mother chose two men,” she said with light laughter.“No! She chose independence for her country. She chose power and freedom,” I yelled.Almost as if in response, a pulsating energy moved up from the ground into my bare feet. It thrummed up my body and radiated out in a bright light, first from my toes, then from my fingertips, then the top of my head.“I choose power,” I said. “I choose freedom.

Not romantic," she disagreed. "To me it would be romantic if Antony properly fell on his sword and kicked the bucket and Cleopatra escaped and lived a lovely life sailing along the Nile without him and his big ideas ruining her kingdom.

Conformity is deformity

These heads sheltered by umbrellas be they of Zeb-un-Nisa, or Catherine of Cleopatra or Fenichka live with their own stories

THOMASINA:But then the Egyptian noodle made carnal embrace with the enemy who burned the great library of Alexandria without so much as a fine for all that is overdue!