"My old friend. I know you see the reality of the streets, and the miseries of the people, and that is a valuable perspective. But remember the world of the wealthy, the priests and the nobles also suffers from dangerous tribulations. The two are not mutually exclusive."

“Rhetoric is a dangerous art. It is the manipulation of the difference, one might say the distance, between truth and image And in our times, that distance has become the means by which power is exercised Rhetoric has been a force for persuasion since man began to speak, and to convince his enemy that he was indeed his friend.”

“For a world with so much sun we live in a dark place, in a dark time.”

“And you must never speak of what I have just told you. For this is a great secret. And great secrets bring with them great responsibilities.”

“Once wine was the means to artificial happiness; now things are much more sophisticated, and what was one of the great secrets of medicine has become the only bliss many find in this life.”

“My dear friend, the world is really one vast marketplace. No one cares where a man is from as long as he has gold in his pocket, or something you want. And the remarkable thing is this: the wars have only encouraged demand, trade has actually boomed in these difficult years. The ships are full, everyone is happy. War and politics are irrelevant, unless the great flow of trade is disturbed.”

“We need strong, educated women to help us build a better world.”