Laura Anne Gilman

"The Sin Washer had died centuries ago, and His legacy seemed often to be in the accumulation of connections and power more than the distribution of emotional or spiritual ease. She kept that thought t…"

"He checked, of course. Being sure and being willing to risk that surety against his future were not the same thing."

"And still, the more he learned, the more he became aware that he did not know."

"He is not bound so tightly by tradition that he will refuse a good idea simply for it being new, and not so wild that he would take a bad idea simply because it is new."

"The painful truth is that while we might have the illusion, none of us are free."

"Power calls to those who are hungry for power, and there are hungry idiots everywhere."

"That is the danger of an idea, Jerzy. Once planted, you cannot control where the roots may go."

"Talent alone is not enough. In the end, Guardian, it is desire that creates a master vintner, makes him into a Vineart. A passion, not for power, or strength, but for the grapes themselves. Anything e…"