“Basic fact of life: no matter how far you run, you always take yourself with you.”

“A quiet life," Stheno replied. "You wouldn't think it was a lot to ask.”

“But how do we know it's really you? I mean, I could put a saucepan on my head and call myself the God of Boiled Dumplings; wouldn't mean I was telling the truth.”

“If the world is a book, are you the hero, or just a walk-on part?”

“When you come to rely on the written word, it's time to light the fire with it.”

“The quickest way to a man`s heart,' said the instructor, 'is proverbially through his stomach. But if you want to get into his brain, I recommend the eye-socket.”

“Obviously, there’s no way of making money that doesn’t hurt somebody somewhere, but there are degrees of scale and immediacy. A merchant prince or a banker or a wealthy landowner isn’t generally required to take responsibility for the people he cheats, screws and starves; society couldn’t function if that were the case.”