A Personal Collection Of Literary Scraps

Too often it is that men think those who serve are doing it from inferiorness or weakness.

   “We are very small,” Simon said. …

'Mourning is for home'

It may or may not be foolishness to pray to the gods, but there is certainly being no wisdom in cursing them.

   “We are having a task of great fear and very great difficulty, Simon- it may even be that there is no possibility of succeeding- but it is not a task we can be fleeing. . . if we are not trying, then there is no chance of anything but this antlike crushing, so we must try. There is always something beyond even the worst of bad times. We may die, but the dying of some may mean living for others. That is not much to cling to, but it is a true thing in any case.”

Honor is a wonderful thing, but it is a means, not an end.

   “Tell me, Father Dinivan,” the count said, turning to the priest, “what does your holy book have to say on the art of politicking?”

Scullion boys are not from fish spawned, or chicken eggs hatched. They can be thinking like the wisest wise folk, if only they do not fight entering knowledge; if they do not say 'can't' or 'won't'.

A man whose wisdom is true does not sit in waiting for the world to come at him piece by piece for proving its existence! … The wise man is not waiting for the realness of the world to prove itself to him. How can one be an authority before the experiencing of this realness? My master taught me- and to me it seems chash, meaning correct- that you must not defend against the entering of knowledge.

'Make Philosophy your evening guest, but do not let her stay the night.'

   “I don’t even feel bad anymore about . . . about that man yesterday.” . . . 

'If the bears do not eat you, it is home.'

Nothing is without cost. There is a price to all power, and it is not always obvious.

You cannot exert force without paying for it, Simon. If you steal a pie, someone else goes hungry. If you ride a horse too fast, it dies. If you use the Art to open doors, Simon, you have little choice of houseguests.

     “But why won’t you teach me the laws?”

There are many kinds of glory.

I spoke to you of traps, of searching for knowledge as though hunting an elusive creature. Well, where I and other knowledge seekers go out to our traps to see what bright beast we may have been lucky enough to capture, Pyrates throws open his door at night and waits to see what comes in.... The problem with Pyrates' approach, is that if you do not like the beast that comes to call, it is hard- very, very hard- to get the door closed again.