I'm not dreaming this, am I?" he asked.Dehvi lifted an eyebrow. "There's only one way to know for sure," he said.What's that?"Go piss in the woods. If you feel wet and warm afterward, wake up.

Do you know what punishments I've endured for my crimes, my sins? None. I am proof of the absurdity of men's most treasured abstractions. A just universe wouldn't tolerate my existence.

The truth is, everyone likes to look down on someone. If your favorites are all avant-garde writers who throw in Sanskrit and German, you can look down on everyone. If your favorites are all Oprah Book Club books, you can at least look down on mystery readers. Mystery readers have sci-fi readers. Sci-fi can look down on fantasy. And yes, fantasy readers have their own snobbishness. I’ll bet this, though: in a hundred years, people will be writing a lot more dissertations on Harry Potter than on John Updike. Look, Charles Dickens wrote popular fiction. Shakespeare wrote popular fiction—until he wrote his sonnets, desperate to show the literati of his day that he was real artist. Edgar Allan Poe tied himself in knots because no one realized he was a genius. The core of the problem is how we want to define “literature”. The Latin root simply means “letters”. Those letters are either delivered—they connect with an audience—or they don’t. For some, that audience is a few thousand college professors and some critics. For others, its twenty million women desperate for romance in their lives. Those connections happen because the books successfully communicate something real about the human experience. Sure, there are trashy books that do really well, but that’s because there are trashy facets of humanity. What people value in their books—and thus what they count as literature—really tells you more about them than it does about the book.

The perfect killer has no friends. Only targets.

The perfect killer has no conscience.

The perfect killer has no identity.

Hope is the great deceiver. Hope is the piper who leads us sleepy to our slaughter.

I think of rounds of editing as hammer time. Then, when they interrupt my writing, I can say... *shakes head* Nah, I just can't do it. Although when I come across a brilliant line, I do think, Can't touch this. And when I'm worried I'm overwriting a scene, I think, Hammer, don't hurt 'em.

Why is it, my shadow-striding friend, that we don't fear dreams? We lose consciousness, lose control, things happen with no apparent logic and abiding by no apparent rules.... We don't fear dreams, but we do fear madness, and death terrifies us.

Moments of beauty sustain us through hours of ugliness.

Words were another sword for the man who wielded them well.

Assassination is an art, milord. And I am the city's most accomplished artist.

Relationships are ropes. Love is a noose. - Durzo Blint

A man’s greatest treasures are his illusions - Durzo Blint

Your Majesty,” Durzo said gravely. “A man of your stature’s cursing vocabulary ought to extend beyond a tedious reiteration of the excreta that fills the void between his ears.” - Durzo Blint

Assassination is an art, milord, and I am the city’s most accomplished artist - Durzo Blint

Love is a madness. Love is Failer - Durzo Blint

I'm afraid we were so eager to avoid war, we've made it all but certain.

This world has only two kinds of people: villains and smiling villains.

...Many shadows hide behind light, and the best lies are those seasoned liberally with truth: salt covering the flavor of rotten meat.

The truth is so dear to me that if Orholam stood on one side and truth on the other, I would turn my back on my creator himself.

What people value in their books—and thus what they count as literature—really tells you more about them than it does about the book.

Logan folded his arms. His voice was granite."My word stands.""Can you love an idea more than you love a man and not become a monster? How many friends will you sacrifice on the altar of Justice, Logan?""If you force my hand, at least one."They were standing on a precipice. Socially, Logan had always been Kylar's superior. Morally, Kylar had always felt inferior, too. But they'd never been placed in a direct hierarchical relation. Now Logan was giving an order. He would not be moved.Kylar could only accept his order and accept all his orders henceforth, or reject it and them forever. There was a part of him that yearned to obey. He was convinced that killing Terah was the right thing, but Logan's moral compass was a more accurate instrument than Kylar's. What was it about submission that was so hard? Kylar wasn't being asked for blind servility. He was being asked to obey a man he knew and loved and respected, who in turn respected him.'The wolfhound is pampered by the fire. The wolf is hunted in the cold.'"Do you know how much I love you, Logan?" Kylar asked. Logan opened his mouth, but before he could say a word, Kylar said, "This much." And left.

Do you know why you feel destined for something greater?” “Why?” Kip asked, quiet, hopeful. “Because you’re an arrogant little shit.

It had better be. It doesn't do much when it's soft.

My question is, do you believe in an evil possessed of its own purity? or does every act intend some good?...

He is terribly bright; he is handsome; he is charming; and you have spoiled him horribly. In other words, he has all the makings of a true monster.

Every act intends some good.

You're a great man, but only when seen from afar.

Yes," Elene said, missing or deciding to miss the sarcasm. "Kylar thinks... Kylar fears that he's a man born to be forever alone. He thinks the last couple of months has been him cheating fate. He's not a man born to be alone, Vi, but some lies take a long time to heal.

..More choices in a limited time didn't mean didn't mean you could do everything-it meant that you could do anything, so you probably did nothing, frozen with indecision.

There's no guarantee that justice will win out or that a noble sacrifice will make any difference. But when it does, there's something that still swells my chest. There's magic in that.... It tells me that's the way things are supposed to be.

Tell them the Night Angel walks. Tell them Justice is come.

Durzo cleared his throat. "I've got bad news... Life being unfair and all that...""Oh, great. What is it?" [replied Kylar]"Luc Graesin? Kid you died on the wheel to save?""It was more for Logan than for Luc, but what about Luc?""Hanged himself," Durzo said...."Are you joking? After what I did for him? That asshole!

Dorian said, 'If you do the right thing twice, it will cost you your life. ' Blint said, 'There are things more valuable than life.' The count said, 'You can't pay for all you've done. But you aren't beyond redemption. There's always a way out. And if you're willing to make the sacrifice, the God will give you the chance to save something priceless.

Like many who have no reason for pride, that very lack of reason for it made me the prouder.

...escaping Neph's magic was impossible. He could sooner tear stars form the heavens.

He kissed her. And she kissed him. And it was infatuation, and it was hunger, and it was longing to be loved, and it was an all-consuming fire so hot it devoured worry and loneliness and fear and time and being and thought itself. They kissed, embracing, flying, and for a hundred heartbeats, there was no war, no death, no pain, nothing hard, nothing terrible, nothing but warmth and acceptance.

Will covers a multitude of flaws, just as love covers a multitude of sins.

Life is meaningless, when we take a life we take nothing of value.

But mercy ceases to be a virtue when it enables further injustice.

Pacifism is a virtue indisguishable from cowardice.

A lie told in the service of truth is virtue.

Pacifism is a virtue indistinguishable from cowardice.

... your father has two secrets. You, Kip are not one of them.

By what right do I bend men to my will? Or is there no right, only ability?

The master who fears the choices his people will make enough to take those choices away isn't worth serving.

To be a man is to bring together that which you should be and that which you are. Deception is darkness.

Bewildered as he might be, sometimes a man's highest calling is simply to stand, and hug.