Stephen Donaldson

Do not be too quick to judge the makers of worlds. Will you ever write a story for which no character will have caused to reproach you?

He smiled because he was alive.

Dreaming is like—it’s like being a slave. Your dreams come out of all the parts of you that you don’t have any control over.

War puts burdens on people without caring whether they are ready for them or not.

Verily, wisdom is like hunger. Perhaps it is a very fine thing—but who would willingly partake of it?

You did not cause his despair. Had you treated him with distrust, you would have achieved nothing but the confirmation of his distress. Distrust—vindicates itself.

Then he grinned. “But it is said that hunger teaches many things. My friend, a wealth of wisdom awaits us on this journey.”

I would say that happiness lies in serving the Land. And I would say that there is no happiness in times of war.

Power is power. Its uses are in the hands of the user.

I rest and rest, but I do not become young.

Do not hurt where holding is enough;

do not wound where hurting is enough;

do not maim where wounding is enough;

and kill not where maiming is enough;

the greatest warrior is he who does not need to kill.

He no longer accused himself; he knew then that no one could be blamed for being inadequate in the face of such unanswerable malevolence. Destruction was easier than preservation, and when destruction had risen high enough, mere men and women could not be condemned if they failed to throw back the tide.