“Thus went my first Court Day.I think I'm going to puke.”

“I will be known forever as the Puppy who chased a cutpurse and caught fish garbage instead. My descendants will pretend I'm not in their bloodline. No – no one will want to make descendants with me. [from Beka Cooper's journal of her first day as a new Dog i.e. cop]”

“Girl, boy or dancing bear, you're the finest page-the finest squire-to-be-at court." (Jon to Alanna)”

“I'm not so fond of people myself, Evvy, but I took my vows for a reason. There are two classes of people in the world, the destroyers and the builders. I want to build, not destroy. You need to ask yourself who you're going to be.”

“You're more trouble than you're worth." "I'm a girl. That's my job.”

“Do we say, Oh now I'm going to be nice to the weak and the small? Or do we do as we learned when we were pages?”

“Hello," he greeted her cheerfully. "You must be Alan of Trebond. You're very hardy to have made it this far the first day. Has anyone said what we try to learn in here?" Alanna said the first thing that came to her lips. "The only thing I know is that I jump when I'm told to and I have no free time.”