“And I didn't mean to shut her out, but sometimes I did it anyway. I liked having power. Power is its own kind of magic.”

“I used many times to touch my own chest and feel, under its asthmatic quiver, the engine of the heart and lungs and blood and feel amazed at what I sensed was the enormity of the power I possessed. Not magical power, but real power. The power simply to go on, the power to endure, that is power enough, but I felt I had also the power to create, to add, to delight, to amaze and to transform.”

“I'm neither a magician, nor a wizard," Mab's deep voice sounded behind him. John was startled."But you are. I mean you must be. You can do magic.""Not magic, Sword Bearer. /Miracles/."...."But you do magic!" John said, bewildered."No, Sword Bearer. It is true that I have power from the Changer, but the power I have is His power, not ours. It is to be used in his service. Magic is stolen power. The power that Qhahdrun has is magical power. It was stolen from the Mystery of Abomination when he rebelled against the Changer. Qhahdrun really thinks it belongs to him, but one day it will be taken from him. For at the last all power will go back to the Changer from whence it came.”

“The thing is, I used to like that: feeling special because I knew something no one else did. It's a kind of power, isn't it, knowing a secret? But lately I don't like it so much, knowing this. It's not really mine to know, is it?”

“You used your power to toss a rock at me?'- Aeson'On the contrary, I didn't use magic for that. I just threw it.”

“A smart woman would have shut up. Did I? Hell no. Intelligence is overrated anyway.”