I like to start of my novels with a quote that will either set the tone of the book or foreshadows the events to come. For example, in The Anatomist's Wife I opened the story with the following Scottish proverb:

Be sure to live your life, because you are a long time dead.

How's that for a succinct truth. I've become rather fond of Scottish proverbs, and intend to use more in the future. Like,

The day has eyes, the night has ears.

Or

The devil's boots don't creak.

 However, for Mortal Arts I turned to a quote by the artist Edgar Degas.

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.

Love! And so fitting to the story. How's that for a teaser?

Right now I'm hunting for a quote to use at the beginning of Lady Darby Book 3. I think I've found it in this eighteenth-century grave epitaph:

Remember, friends, as you pass by,
As you are now so once was I.
As I am now, so you must be.
Prepare yourself to follow me.

Kinda creepy. If you've got any good quotes, send them my way. I'm always interested in collecting more.