“Eragon cried out, and in his desperation he reached for Saphira and the Eldunarí... and without meaning to, he drew from their stories of energy. And with that energy he cast a spell.It was a spell without words... His was a spell of instinct and emotion; language could not contain it.”

“Magic is a kind of energy. It is given shape by human thoughts and emotions, by imagination. Thoughts define that shape—and words help to define those thoughts. That’s why wizards usually use words to help them with their spells. Words provide a sort of insulation as the energy of magic burns through a spell caster’s mind.”

“And so he was reading the story as if it were a spell and the words of it, spoken aloud, could make magic happen.”

“... and when he put his mind to it, he could make his words coil themselves around and around the listener until they held her in some sort of a mild hypnotic spell.”

“He bent his head to mine and kissed the sense out of me. If you’d asked me my name, I’d have told you wrong. He had that kind of ability and he was mine, maybe it was because he was mine and because I loved him the way I did that his spell could cast itself over me with such ferocity.”

“Between nine and ten, at last, in the high clear picture--he was moving in these days, as in a gallery, from clever canvas to clever canvas--he drew a long breath: it was so presented to him from the first that the spell of his luxury wouldn't be broken.”