- Maria: [narrating] Stories don't end. They only go their separate ways. We take leave of them. Not knowing what comes after.
- [first lines]
- Maria: [narration] Before you were born, Amsterdam was captivated by a flower: the tulip. They came from far away in the East and were so rare and beautiful that people lost their senses in wanting to own them. Rich and poor were spending and borrowing money to join the trade in bulbs, which were going up in price all the time. None more so than the rare striped tulips that were called breakers. A new breaker came from nowhere like an act of God, and it changed people's lives. A white flower with a God-given crimson stripe turned our lives upside down, mine and my mistress Sophia's.
- Cornelis Sandvoort: If it should come to a choice, let the baby go, I beg of you. In God's name, spare my wife.
- Dr Sorgh: Isn't that up to God?
- Maria: [narrating] Soon after, the government stepped in and banned tulip trading. Overnight, the market crashed. Thousands were left destitute. All this stemmed from a love of beauty, a passion for flowers whose lives are even briefer than our own. But while the blooms had faded, the paintings remained.
- Jan Van Loos: That's the color of blue the Italian masters used for the mother of Jesus. Do you know why they dressed the Virgin in blue?
- Sophia: Because it's the color of purity.
- Jan Van Loos: Because it's the color which cost the most. Oltremarino. Blue from over the sea. From a blue stone mined in one place only and far away.
- Mrs Overvalt: A woman who's been married three years needs to keep herself... interesting. Or life will become dulled. Do you know who she is?
- Sophia: Of course. She's Danae, being made love to by Zeus.
- Maria: That's Antonia Hocken, the tinsmith's wife. She could tell you a thing or two about him with the brush.
- Abbess: Who are you?
- Jan Van Loos: My name is Jan Van Loos, I'm an artist. I'm in love with a woman who loves me. I have no money. I can't think of anything else to say about me, except that I'm very sorry.
- Abbess: Evidently, not a very good artist.
- Jan Van Loos: I think I am becoming good.
- Cornelis Sandvoort: Our Dutch republic is the richest nation on Earth. Supply and demand. That's how it goes.
- Abbess: You have brought her to life.
- Jan Van Loos: Only to torment me the more by knowing she's dead.
- Abbess: Mr. Prater tells me you've been busy. He doesn't mean painting. You're losing your bloom and, unlike tulips, yours will not be renewed in the spring.