“I am free to choose my own actions. Indeed, like everyone else, I must be so. A good act that is compelled is not goodness at all, but merely force.”

“You must never call your enemy by a name you choose for him." “Instead you must call him by the name he calls himself. What he chooses will reflect his pride; it will reveal his desires. But what you choose to call him will reveal your fears, which should be kept to yourself, lest your enemy find the way to exploit them.”

“I have not led an ordinary life, nor a life that would suit everyone. I took great risks, but because I did, I also earned great reward. I found the way to show my true face freely, without fear. Because of this, I found true love.”

“Oswald: "All your life"Aurore: "What?"Oswald: "All your life, isn't that what you wanted to know? How long I loved you?"Aurore: "Well, yes, I suppose I did, but that wasn't what I was going to ask just now."Oswald: "I tell you I've loved you since the day you were born, and you tell me you want to know something else. There's no one quite like you, is there, Aurore?”

“For surely a king is first a man. And so it must follow that a king does as all men do: the best he can.”

“My playing had called to another human being at last. Surely, she could be no other than my own true love.Slowly, I got to my feet.Speak to me, I thought.And as if she'd heard me, the young woman's lips parted and she spoke thus:Have you lost your mind?”

“It took two," I said. "Two different people to make the Heartwood what it is. Two different experiences, grief and joy, combined. True love never has just one face, does it? It must always have two, or it isn't true love at all.”