Ellen Kushner Quote

Abjuring love? Real people don't do that. Now you're the one who sounds like someone on a stage. That's not the real world. Real people follow their hearts, wherever it takes them. Real people refuse to be put into a little tiny box. You can say you love me or you don't love me, it doesn't matter; I know you have foresworn nothing except an existence you found intolerable.
She really did smile this time. Now you're making me sound like a heroine. Be honest, Lucius. For all that you go on about the real world with its real people, you don't really want to live in it, either.

Part III, Chapter VIII (p. 299) - The Privilege of the Sword (2006)