"“Sharp it away, lad, sharp it away,” the burly guardsman said, making the blade skitter across the whetstone, “lest otherways ye’ll be a girl afore ye’re a man."

“It was easy to hate if he did not think, Simon discovered.”

“I gave up the love of learning for the love of oblivion—the two cannot live together.”

“If you have not noticed, we are preparing for war. I’m sorry if that inconveniences you.”

““Now, boy, now...” he said bewilderedly, “what is all this talk of glory? Have you caught the sickness, too? Curse me for a blind beggar, I should have seen. This fever has cankered even your simple heart, hasn’t it, Simon? I’m sorry. It takes a strong will or practiced eye to see through the glitter to the rotten core.”

“Tiamak closed his eyes to make a short prayer of thanks, hoping that the gods, like children, could be confirmed in good behavior by praise.”

“Ambitious men never believe others aren’t the same.”