The Birth of Venus

The Birth of Venus 

by Sarah Dunant

 

 

 

"No one had seen her naked until her death."

 

"Looking back now, I see it more as an act of pride than kindness that my father brought the young painter back with him from the North that spring."

 

"The Devil may take the reckless, but the good will surely die of boredom. Boredom and frustration."

 

"So if we could not have love, my husband and I, then at least I could have alchemy."

 

"The wood of suicides is near to the burning ground of the Sodomites. Sometimes they rush in, beating down the flames that ignite constantly all over their scarred bodies and, as Dante would have it, on occasions there is time for them to stop and converse a little with other damned souls about art and literature and the sins for which we are all condemned. I would like that."

“Someone told me much later that you always know the people who are going to make a difference in your life, from the very first time you set eyes on them, even if you do not like them at all. And I had noticed him, as he had me. God help us.” 

“If you love a man for his honesty, you cannot become angry when he shows it.”