That's kind of what trust is, isn't it? A willful self-delusion.

It was strange, how easily and quickly protection could cause destruction. Sometimes, Vasher wondered if the two weren't really the same thing. Protect a flower, destroy pests who wanted to feed on it. Protect a building, destroy the plants that could have grown in the soil. Protect a man. Live with the destruction he creates.

He found himself weeping. Not for the future or for the emperor. These were the tears of a man who saw before himself a masterpiece. True art was more than beauty; it was more than technique. It was not just imitation. It was boldness, it was contrast, it was subtlety.

Sometimes, son," my father said, prying my fingers free, "you have to help the heroes along.

Entropy shakes its angry fist at you for being clever enough to organize the world. (p 2)

It was amazing how many books one could fit into a room, assuming one didn't want to move around very much.

Lately, I feel like my life is a book written in a language I don't know how to read.