“Mathin said: "It is best to take your opponent's sash. The kysin mark each blow dealt, but to cut off the other rider's sash is best. This you will do.""Oh," said Harry."You may, if you wish, unhorse him first," Mathin added as an afterthought."Thanks," said Harry.”

“Mathin had taught her patience, and she had known all of her life how to be stubborn.”

“We are all only mortal," said the Master, even more slowly. "We do only what we can do. All the Elemental priests have certain teachings in common: one of them is that everyone, every human, every bird, badger and salamander, every blade of grass and every acorn, is doing the best it can. This is the priests' definition of mortality: the circumstance of doing what one can is that of doing one's best. Only the immortals have the luxury of furlough. Doing one's best is hard work; we rely on our surroundings because we must; when our surroundings change, we stumble. If you are running as fast as you can, only a tiny roughness of the ground may make you fall.”

“She laughed at him then, because he sounded like a small boy, not like a very large grown-up Beast with a voice so deep it made the hair on the back of your neck stir when you heard it. 'But vegetables are good for you,' she said, and added caressingly, 'They make you grow up big and strong.'He smiled, showing a great many teeth. 'You see why I wish to eat no more vegetables.”

“Can you trust me, he said. Not will you. Can you.Can I trust him?What do I have to lose?”

“I said: "He cannot be so bad if he loves roses so much.""But he is a Beast," said Father helplessly.I saw that he was weakening, and wishing only to comfort him I said, "Cannot a Beast be tamed?”

“All you did was sit there, he said. Why are you so tired?I sat very diligently, she said.”