Nothing can come out of nothing, any more than a thing can go back to nothing. Book IV

I say patience, and shuffle the cards. Don Quixote

Is it really not possible to touch the gaming table without being instantly infected by superstition? The Gambler

"The Poet had, who had made a show of attaching no importance to this literary game (though it gnawed at his heart that he himself had not written such beautiful letters, provoking replies even more beautiful), and having no one with whom to fall in love, had fallen in love with the letters themselves — which, as Niketas remarked with a smile — was not surprising, since in youth we are prone to fall in love with love. Baudolino