"No man ever truly possesses a woman, anyhow," said Gidas moodily. "He has her body for a time if he's lucky, but only the most fleeting glimpse into her soul." Gidas was a poet, or wanted to be."
- Guy Gavriel Kay
"The privacy of pride."
"She had been a solitary child, and then solitary as a woman, drawn into an orbit of her own that took her away from others, even those who would be her friends."
"A hand fought best when it made a fist."
"It can be hard to write a skillfully entertaining fiction, but a great book wants to be more, and wants more from us."
"Ambitions and dreams put you at a drinking table with unexpected companions. Cups were filled and refilled, making you drunk with the illusion of changing the world."
"When you didn't say a lot, he thought, you said the important things."
"It had taken skill, tact, an ability to choose friends well, and a great deal of luck... Luck was always part of it, one way or another"