Sometimes you didn't really arrive at a conclusion about your life, you just discovered that you already had.

The deeds of men, as footprints in the desert. Nothing under the circling moons is fated to last. Even the sun goes down.

A hard truth: that courage can be without meaning or impact, need not be rewarded, or even known. The world has not been made in that way. Perhaps, however, within the self there might come a resonance, the awareness of having done something difficult, of having done . . . something.

most hated by the dark, for their name is light.

Writing is never, ever easy but I wake up every morning grateful for the gift of being able to do this.

Some writers later, describing the events of that night and day, wrote that Wan'yen of the Altai had seen a spirit-dragon of the river and become afraid. Writers do that sort of thing. They like dragons in their tales.

Sometimes you didn't really arrive at a conclusion about your life, you just discovered that you already had.