“Aye, a very bad business indeed. A new sort of way this, for a young fellow to be making love, by breaking his mistress's head, is not it, Miss Elliot? This is breaking a head and giving a plaister truly!”

“To think new thoughts you have to break the bones in your head”

“You can't make a revolutionary omelet without breaking heads.”

“In my experience, the truly evil are few and good people, with the very best of intentions, often make very bad decisions and get in way over their heads before they know it. People drown, quietly, before our eyes, all the time.”

“King Richard, who was a strong, restless, burly man, with one idea always in his head, and that the very troublesome idea of breaking the heads of other men, was mightily impatient to go on a Crusade to the Holy Land, with a great army.”

“Weel, hallo there,” he said in a thick accent… He threw his head back and laughed—a rich, joyous sound that bounced off the water… “Aye, that I am, indeed. Aiden MacRae of Eilean Donan. Very pleased to be meeting you.”