Death, after all, is the common expectation from birth. Neither heroes nor cowards can escape it.

I have always known that the best of the Saracens could out-Christian many of us Christians.

Truth, like the burgeoning of a bulb under the soil, however deeply sown, will make its way to the light.

I go to Prague every year if I can, value my relationships there like gold, and feel myself in a sense Czech, with all their hopes and needs. They are a people I not only love, but admire.

Bitter though it may be to many, Cadfael concluded, there is no substitute for truth, in this or any case.

Truth is a hard master, and costly to serve, but it simplifies all problems.

The voices of cold reason were talking, as usual, to deaf ears.