“...if reality is hard and flat and unjust, then it's better to adjust to what really is than to complain that it isn't what you wish. That was what made me lose faith..... But having lost it, soon I doubted my lack of faith. There were niggling hints of meaning everywhere.”

“There is only one question: Does what you do, every day, have meaning? Acaelus had thought his actions did, once. For centuries, he’d put his faith in Jorsin Alkestes. A long dead king. A madman who’d sworn he would return. Even from death. A madman who’d left madness everywhere in his wake.”

“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.”

“At some point, you have to decide not merely what you're going to believe, but how you're going to believe. Are you going to believe in people, or in ideas or in Orcholam? With your heart, or with your head? Will you believe what's in front of you, or in what you think you know? There are some things you think you know that are lies. I can't tell you what those are, and I'm sorry for that.”

“Elene gasped and sat up. "Kylar Thaddeus Stern!"Kylar giggled. "Thaddeus? That's a good one. I knew a Thaddeus once.""So did I. He was a blind idiot.""Really?" Kylar said, his eyes dancing. "The one I knew was famous for his gigantic-""Kylar!" Elene interrupted, motioning toward Uly."His gigantic what?" Uly asked."Now you did it." Elene said, "His gigantic what, Kyler?""Feet. And you know what they say about big feet." He winked lasciviously at Elene."What?" Uly asked."Big Shoes," Kylar said.”

“It's better that the innocent should live than that the guilty die”

“I heard you talking about the Night Angel,” she said. “Kylar Stern.”“Mmm.”“I want you to know something,” she whispered into his ear, making him shiver. What the hell was she saying? “Kylar’s my brother. He’s coming for me,you dirty fucker, and if I don’t kill you, he will.”