“Dragonsbane, they called him.Slayer of dragons.Or a dragon, anyway. And, he'd later found out, not such a very big one at that.”

“If one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out.”

“Dragons are notable for their lust for gold, not a bad quality taken in moderation. Dragons are immune to fire, obviously. All dragons are terrifically vain, indeed as to who is more vain, a dragon or an elf, I would not want to be the one to decide. Hint: an elf. A dragon should never be engaged in conversation as they are inveterate liars and tricksters, though if you're actually talking to a dragon, you're pretty much toast anyway. Never, ever call a dragon a worm, no matter how much they're asking for it.”

“He wanted her to call; he wanted her to miss him; but as it turned out, he was okay. He'd never found single life so interesting before.”

“Did not learned men, too, hold, till within the last twenty-five years, that a flying dragon was an impossible monster? And do we not now know that there are hundreds of them found fossil up and down the world? People call them Pterodactyles: but that is only because they are ashamed to call them flying dragons, after denying so long that flying dragons could exist.”

“Otherwise, he'd have found the ruin empty, and then, somehow, very quietly and almost naturally, he would have died.”