“be you and not someone else”

“When bad fortune occurs, the unresourceful, unimaginative man looks about him to attach the blame to someone else; the resolute accepts misfortune and endeavors to survive, mature, and improve because of it.”

“Don't leave me alone!A cry in the night,Of anguish heart-stiking,Of soul-killing fright.Live for my livingOr else I must dieDon't leave me alone.A world heard that cry.”

“Make no judgments where you have no compassion.”

“(Meli, are you sure these "humans" are on our side?)(No ... but at least they are not Khieevi.)(That is beginning to seem less and less of a recommendation. Like us in form, perhaps, but hardly in ethics.)(That may not be entirely a bad thing. If they meet their friends with weapons in both hands, what do you suppose they do to their enemies?)”

“Look around you, Lessa of Pern, look around the Weyr with unveiled eyes. Old and hallowed is the Weyr? Yes, but shabby and worn – and disregarded. Yes, you were elated to sit in the Weyrwoman’s great chair at the Council Table, but the padding is thin and the fabric dusty. Humbled to think your hands rest where Moreta’s and Torene’s had rested? Well, the stone is ingrained with dirt and needs a good scrubbing. And your rump may rest where theirs did – but that’s not where you have your brains.”

“Harper to your word be trueHolder, crafter you also hewTo honesty, integrity, and respectAll others without regard to intellect”