“She was an infallible prophetess, and these powers came from her ability to look into the patterns of the universe.”

“What was destiny? What was the power that shaped the patterns and attempted to enforce them? God? Should she be raging at God - or begging Him to let her son live and to spare her from the life of a cripple? Or was the power behind destiny merely a natural mechanism, a force no different in origin from gravity or magnetism?”

“The secret of rulership is to combine a belief in one’s own infallibility with a power to learn from past mistakes.”

“How sweetly he came to her, she thought. Even with his bulk and power, he came to her...sweetly.”

“Long ago she had thought bravery equaled wandering, the power was in the journey. Now she knew that, for her, it took no courage to leave; strength came from returning. Strength lay in staying.”

“Intelligence does not mean infallibility, nor does it mean immobility. Intelligence means the ability to learn.”