Listen, my father had written. Listen to hear if they are telling the truth or only part of the truth, for that is the lesson of history: that the victors tell the tale of their triumph in a manner to grant accolades to themselves and heap blame upon their rivals. Ask yourself if part of the story is being withheld by design or ignorance.

Above all else, do not fear to climb the victory tower.

There's no secret to winning. Act boldly when you need to, and be cautious when you must.

How can it be men would put up with such an arrangement?''Why do some people demand it of women but not of men? It is just another way of doing things. As my father would have said, folk will have their customs according to their nature and their surroundings.

Can we ever see the truth when desire blinds us? Or do we call it the truth because it is what we wish to see?

War was so simple, wasn't it? Much simpler than justice.

A kiss can be like the world turning over. It can be like the tide of a dragon's dream washing through the unseen world that is hidden to mortal eyes but that nevertheless permeates our being. It can be hot and cold together, as vast as the heavens and yet specific to the pressure of hands and the parting of lips. It raised more intense feelings than I had expected, like being engulfed in a storm of lightning.

We don't have to accept the things we might change.

The history of the world begins with a seed. The seed is the kernel of what you are, but it is also the promise of what you can become.

You learn to ride on the path and keep your eyes open so you can see what is there, not what you wish were there.... And then after all you might discover that what is there is what you wished for all along.

Male or female, what did it matter, really, when the body yearned?

It's the ones who can't let go - of fear or anger, lust or greed, vanity or pride or power - who are most at risk of becoming corrupted.

Are these soldiers really our enemy, or only the worst reflection of our own selves?... We made them. We have to unmake them, not just defeat or kill them.