Men of honour will always outstay men of undeserved rank.

Even in peace there is war.

Those who looked with revulsion at the oppressive might of her arms, were obliged to marvel at the egalitarian nature of her social programmes.

Seconds feel like centuries when I am not in your presence.

He returned her gaze, yearning for sentimental solace; love which emanated from a familiar source, mattered little how bedevilling. They shared an intimate moment, a silent tête-à-tête, which seemed to confront doubts each harboured.

Throughout the empire, it was whispered that although the husband waded through mud, the wife walked upon water. She, it was said, was graced with a gentle touch which tamed the most vicious of men.

Things I fear will forever change and we old souls can do little but be swayed by the winds.

Came they, in their droves, one after the other, hundred after hundred, thousand after thousand, engulfing all before them, each line a merciless wave from a boundless sea of bold men.

If their social institutions were abhorrent, their unwritten constitution bordered upon the absurd. The absolutist monarchs of the ancient kingdoms of Amara looked with detestation at the Shazarian constitutional monarchy. Yet this was no time to demonstrate loathing of the upstart nation; condescension could wait until after Sixto had been defeated.

As the map of the Great Plain was being redrawn by a young Shazarian councillor, the ageing Shylonian king interrupted mid-speech to ask him his name. With a piercing glare and a haughty flick of his cloak, he retorted ‘Lord Ratilla, Shazarian Imperial Secretary, and who might you be?’ Behind the gasps of horror, the message was clear. It was Shazaria who now bestrode the Amaran world, henceforth the office of Shazarian minister now held greater prestige than even that of foreign monarchs. What became even clearer were the depths of Shazarian treachery. The impudent youth who stood before the kings of Amara stripping them of ancient provinces, was the same adolescent reputed to have delivered an eloquent speech which swayed the Shazarian councillors in favour of war.Had this been their intention all along?

Thirty years of marriage to Erasto had taught her much, namely that men were reckless by nature, full of bluster, most incompetent, the rest fortunate to have a wife to keep them from allowing their innate ineptitude to engulf all around them.

The dressmakers have just arrived from Shylon; they are coming here to display their goods.’‘Really, that’s lovely.’‘I was wondering if I could have some money, please.’ ‘What’s the point in having your own money if you’re just going to spend mine?’ ‘Yeah, but the amount of dresses I’m planning to buy, I might not have enough.’ ‘Then buy an amount you can afford.’ Ratilla responded bearing an expression of incredulity. ‘Oh Rat.’ Tizi said as she pouted, conjuring a mournful expression. ‘I just want to look pretty, what will they say if the wife of the Imperial Chancellor is clothed in rags? I’m only trying to play my part as the wife of the great Ratilla.’ Tizi said, her eyes full of misery, as Ratilla shook his head and chuckled.

If they succeed, you will not be packed off to some idyllic farm, where you can write bad poetry, we will both be executed.

There are no moral obligations in the game of empire.

Power is a beautiful thing.

Educated and ambitious, with their own forthright opinions, the women of the Garvey set did more to determine political direction than many councillors. Their involvement in public life and political machinations was such that the Shylonian ambassador was able to report, to his monarch, that the women of the Garvey clique were ‘politicians first, homemakers second.

What had, moments ago, appeared a dangerous gambit, now seemed an elegant coup de maître.

I love you for unfathomable reasons

Beware the wounded lioness, for she is a natural hunter.

History will remember him as a savage, but that's because we write the histories.

There is no greater service than that rendered to one’s nation, no greater glory one can seek than that in the name of one’s people.

The world needed gentle men to rule if the people were to live in peace, not the warmongers and conniving men she so often witnessed wearing the crimson of the Imperial Council.

It is far too late for bloodless hands.

Above all, he loathed men who beat women; for, real men didn’t exercise their strength on frail creatures, they joined the army and put Shazaria’s enemies in their graves.

We are just peasants with money.

I consider my wife and children in all things; yet, I must consider Amara also.

Do not try to be your father boy, it is a hopeless pursuit, particularly when you, like I, have a father of such colossal proportions.

They will not be swayed, they have power in their sights and are blinded by its alluring glister.

What is rank if not protection from the consequences which fall upon common men?

The cold surface somehow enabled him to remain calm; he kept his eyes upon the summit, awaiting the arrival of reinforcements. The pace of his breathing remained steady, as did his pulse; it was in such moments men came of age; ‘the night is ours, the night is ours’, Jelani whispered.

To discover what becomes of men who do not pay debts owed to Ratilla, one must visit the underworld.

Yet Theo had become engrossed in his own tale, transporting himself back to the night of which he spoke. In the distance, he could again see the faces he had encountered on that fateful night, the twisted bodies and pained expressions of the men who no longer walked the realms of men, but those of the underworld gods.

The ambition of men compels them to break even the most heartfelt vows.

Crowns are hourly tumbling.

Everything has changed, and nothing has altered. Oh, what a fate.