"Woe is the natural end of life, yet we go on having babies." P. 8

"They left a pipkin of water nearby, and under cover of the next squall they went squelching away, to find their sons and husbands and brothers, and berate and beat them if they were available, or bury them if not." P. 21

"Perhaps, though Nanny, little green Elphaba chose her own sex, and her own color, and to hell with her parents." P. 31

"A green child will be an open invitation for scorn and abuse." P. 48

"She reasoned that because she was beautiful she was significant, though what she signified, and to whom, was not clear to her yet." P. 65

"Elphaba looked like something between an animal and an Animal, like something more than life but not quite Life." P. 77

"The funeral was modest, a love-her-and-shove-her affair." P. 154

"'Beware whom you serve," said the Wizard...