“It's always better to be doing.”

“Hear, hear," said the Dog, raising her head. "It's always better to be doing, Prince. Besides, you don't smell like a coward, so you can't be one.”

“I have never known what to tell anybody. Except that it is better to do something than nothing, even if the cost is great.”

“...I've been thinking that it's as if my ancestors are saying it's all right to make things. That's what I'm meant to do. Make things, and help the Abhorsen and the King. So I'll do that, and I'll do my best, and if my best isn't good enough, at least I will have done everything I could, everything that is in me. I don't have to try to be someone else, someone I could never be.”

“For everyone and everything, there is a time to die. Some do not know it, or would delay it, but its truth cannot be denied. Not when you look into the stars of the ninth gate.”

“When the dead do walk seek water's run,for this the Dead will always shun. Swift river's best or broadest laketo ward the dead and have and make.If water fails thee, fire's thy friend, if neither guards it will be thy end.”

“This? It's a feather-coin. I made it.''What is it for?''It isn't for anything. It's a toy.''It's for annoying people,' said Mogget from Sam's pack. 'If you don't put it away, I shall eat it.”