Guilt is the first weed we pluck, to keep the garden pretty and smelling sweet. — 17: 388-388
I am the Mistress of Thieves, Lord. I know every path. I have walked them all. And I have seen what there is to be seen. If you and your people hide here, Lord, you will all die. And so will Mother Dark. Be her breath. Be cast out.’ — 26: 556-558
horses”. Sometimes — 186: 3769-3769
The fact is, that tale’s moral is “don’t trust horses”. — 186: 3769-3769
Contradiction. In the rational realm, the word was a blistering condemnation. Proof of flawed logic. To expose it in an adversary’s position was akin to delivering a deathblow, and she well recalled the triumphant gleam in his eyes in the instant he struck. But, she wondered now, where was the crime in that most human of capacities: to carry in one’s heart a contradiction, to leave it unchallenged, immune to reconciliation; indeed, to be two people at once, each true to herself, and neither denying the presence of the other? What vast laws of cosmology were broken by this human talent? Did the universe split asunder? Did reality lose its way? No. In fact, it seemed that the only realm wherein contradiction had any power at all was the realm of rational argument. And, Krughava admitted, she had begun to doubt that realm’s self-proclaimed virtue. — 370: 7446-7452
‘Bonecaster Bitterspring, of the Second Ritual, do you hear me?’ ‘I do, First Sword.’ ‘You are named a seer. Can you see what awaits us?’ ‘I have no true gift of prophecy, First Sword. My talent was in reading people. That and nothing more. I have been an impostor for so long I know no other way of being.’ ‘Bitterspring, we are all impostors. What awaits us?’ ‘What has always awaited us,’ she replied. ‘Blood and tears.’ — 707: 14162-14167
‘Had a friend once, tried warning an eager little boy away from the soldier’s life.’ ‘And did your friend succeed?’ ‘Doesn’t matter if he did or didn’t. That’s not the point.’ ‘So, what is the point, then?’ ‘You can’t steer anyone away from the path they’re going to take. You can show ’em that there’s plenty of other paths – you can do that much – but past that? They’ll go where they go.’ — 790: 15858-15862