“He was a consummate politician-- which is to say he was given to expedient speech and lacked even a vestigial spine.”

“He didn't say that. He read what was given to him in a speech.”

“The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation.”

“Even the Quran, which Sufis respect as the direct speech of God, lacks the capacity to shed light upon God’s essence. As one Sufi master has argued, why spend time reading a love letter (by which he means the Quran) in the presence of the Beloved who wrote it?”

“All of which indicates that he's quite a fast learner. When you approve of a politician, this is known as flexibility; when you don't, it's called lack of principal - but in fact, politics requires accommodation.”

“You... don't have the spine!" he hissed with morbid, sadistic amusement.Unfortunately for him, it was mercy that I lacked, not a spine. I raised my swords high overhead. He stopped laughing when I had finished hacking off his head.”