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Napoleon Bonaparte
The woman with gray-green eyes is an affluent woman who lives with her husband, an antiques merchant, in a large house in Venice. While her husband is on one of his frequent trips for work, she meets young casino worker Villanelle while Villanelle is dressed as a young man at a public ball celebrating Napoleon Bonaparte’s birthday. The woman and Villanelle are immediately infatuated with each other. When they run into one another at a restaurant while Villanelle is once again dressed as a young man, the woman invites Villanelle to her house for dinner. At the intimate dinner, the woman explains that she is married and that she can’t have sex with Villanelle—but they can kiss. Later, Villanelle comes back to the woman’s house and nervously admits she’s female. The woman explains that she already knew—and she and Villanelle begin a sexual affair. Yet after the woman’s husband returns, Villanelle spies on the married couple, realizes they have a peaceful and companionable existence, and eventually ends the affair—after having already lost her literal, physical heart to the woman’s possession. Years later, French army deserter Henri breaks into the woman’s house to steal Villanelle’s heart back. He finds not only Villanelle’s heart in a jar but also a half-woven tapestry representing Villanelle—which Villanelle later explains to him would have allowed the woman to keep Villanelle’s heart captive forever, if the woman had ever finished it. After Villanelle regains her heart, she has dinner with the woman with gray-green eyes one more time. At dinner, the woman explains that her husband has left her to search for the Holy Grail and will perhaps never return. She asks Villanelle to stay the night. Villanelle, sure she’ll lose her heart again if she stays, refuses and avoids the woman with gray-green eyes ever after.
The Woman with Gray-Green Eyes Quotes in The Passion
The The Passion quotes below are all either spoken by The Woman with Gray-Green Eyes or refer to The Woman with Gray-Green Eyes. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2: The Queen of Spades
Quotes
Passion is not so much an emotion as a destiny. What choice have I in the face of this wind but to put up sail and rest my oars?
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She thought I was a young man. I was not. Should I go see her as myself and joke about the mistake and leave gracefully? My heart shriveled at this thought. To lose her again so soon. And what was myself? Was this breeches and boots self any less real than my garters? What was it about me that interested her?
You play, you win. You play, you lose. You play.
Could a woman love a woman for more than a night?
I stepped out and in the morning they say a beggar was running round the Rialto talking about a young man who’d walked across the canal like it was solid.
I’m telling you stories. Trust me.
Part 3: The Zero Winter
Quotes
What you risk reveals what you value.
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There is no sense in loving someone you can never wake up to except by chance.
Why was she so upset? Because if the tapestry had been finished and the woman had woven in her heart, she would have been a prisoner for ever.
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I say I’m in love with her. What does that mean?
It means I review my future and my past in the light of this feeling. It is as though I wrote in a foreign language that I am suddenly able to read.
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Part 4: The Rock
Quotes
And the valuable, fabulous thing?
Now that I have it back? Now that I have been given a reprieve such as only the stories offer?
Will I gamble it again?
Yes.
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I think now that being free is not being powerful or rich or well regarded or without obligations but being able to love. To love someone else enough to forget about yourself even for one moment is to be free.
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The Woman with Gray-Green Eyes Quotes in The Passion
The The Passion quotes below are all either spoken by The Woman with Gray-Green Eyes or refer to The Woman with Gray-Green Eyes. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2: The Queen of Spades
Quotes
Passion is not so much an emotion as a destiny. What choice have I in the face of this wind but to put up sail and rest my oars?
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
She thought I was a young man. I was not. Should I go see her as myself and joke about the mistake and leave gracefully? My heart shriveled at this thought. To lose her again so soon. And what was myself? Was this breeches and boots self any less real than my garters? What was it about me that interested her?
You play, you win. You play, you lose. You play.
Could a woman love a woman for more than a night?
I stepped out and in the morning they say a beggar was running round the Rialto talking about a young man who’d walked across the canal like it was solid.
I’m telling you stories. Trust me.
Part 3: The Zero Winter
Quotes
What you risk reveals what you value.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
There is no sense in loving someone you can never wake up to except by chance.
Why was she so upset? Because if the tapestry had been finished and the woman had woven in her heart, she would have been a prisoner for ever.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I say I’m in love with her. What does that mean?
It means I review my future and my past in the light of this feeling. It is as though I wrote in a foreign language that I am suddenly able to read.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4: The Rock
Quotes
And the valuable, fabulous thing?
Now that I have it back? Now that I have been given a reprieve such as only the stories offer?
Will I gamble it again?
Yes.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I think now that being free is not being powerful or rich or well regarded or without obligations but being able to love. To love someone else enough to forget about yourself even for one moment is to be free.
