...the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword." "...a ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is.

Some allies are more dangerous than enemies.

The gods made our bodies as well as our souls, is it not so? They give us voices, so we might worship them with song. They give us hands, so we might build them temples. And they give us desire, so we might mate and worship them in that way.

You kill men for the wrongs they have done, not the wrongs that they may do someday.

...grief can derange even the strongest and most disciplined of minds.

Does he think to scare me? Arya kissed him where his nose should be and plucked the grave worm from his eye to eat it, but it melted like a shadow in her hand. The yellow skull was melting too, and the kindliest old man that she had ever seen was smiling down on her. "No one has ever tried to eat my worm before," he said. "Are you hungry, child?" Yes, she thought, but not for food.

Half-truths are worth more than outright lies.