Giving orders you know won't be obeyed is one of the best ways I know to destroy your own authority.

Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled, or dead?

God, I love the "fine morality" of the wealthy and powerful. You'll spill tears over your own, in a heartbeat. And then never even look twice at people below you, whose very lives are ground under every day, day after day, year after year.

Spies could be invaluable in peacetime, once the fighting actually started, their value dropped steeply. When the swords were out, it was the information your own scouts provided that mattered, not reports from unknown people whose veracity you couldn't prove.

It was rumored she held grudges till they died of old age, then had them stuffed and mounted.

Son, you'll know you're in love when a woman's voice settles into your spine.

The world's best swordsman doesn't fear the second best; he fears the worst swordsman, because he can't predict what the idiot will do.