David Farland

A well-bred lady must be prepared in all things. It is not enough to simply excel at needlepoint. She must also be equipped to lead a nation. She should know how to gossip effectively, barter for mercenaries, plan a feast, skewer an assassin, comfort a sick child, and lead a cavalry charge.

Chapter 5: The Shivering World

Home is anywhere that we find peace.

Chapter 43: Home

“What is a Runelord,” his mother had taught him as a child, “but a man who keeps an oath? Your vassals give you endowments, and you grant them protection in return. They give you wit, and you lead wisely. They grant you brawn, and you fight like a reaver. They bestow stamina, and you work long hours in their behalf. You live for them. And if you love them as you should, you die for them. No vassal will waste an endowment on a Runelord who lives only for himself.”

chapter 11: Commitments

But I fear that in war, a man’s conscience must be the first casualty.

Chapter 4: A Gathering of Wits

We are all one fabric, humankind. To tear out a single thread unbinds us.

Chapter 47: Searching for the Waymaker

But while some evil acts became easier with repetition, some became more impossible.

Chapter 31.

But who were the best?
Those he loved the most? Not always.
Those who contributed most to the world? Was one man's art of more value than a baker's skill at baking bread, or a humble peasant woman's love for her children?
Should he Choose those who could fight best in his behalf, and thus best defend his people?
How could Gaborn set a value on life?

Chapter 53.

An old adage said, „When Runelords battle, it is the commoners who die”.

Chapter 48: Fire

„Life for me isn't just existing,” Gaborn said. „It's how I choose to live that matters.”

Chapter 16: The Betrayal

It seemed to Borenson that women were like food laid out in a feast. One woman might be a satisfying loaf of bread, another an intoxicating wine, a third as sustaining as a boar’s ham, a fourth as sweet as a tart.
Who would want to eat only one single course at a feast?

Chapter 25: Grudging Respect