The real problem with being around James was that he was always the hero. And what did that make you? Either the sidekick or the villain.

By now he had learned enough to know that when he was getting annoyed at somebody else, it was usually because there was something that he himself should be doing, and he wasn't doing it.

You didn’t get the quest you wanted, you got the one you could do.

For just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there's nothing else. It's here, and you'd better decide to enjoy it or you're going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your life, forever.

I love playing with the conventions of fantasy, and breaking rules, and crossing lines.

I read Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I think will subsequently be recognized as one of the first great novels of the 21st century.

The real problem with being around James was that he was always the hero. And what did that make you? Either the sidekick or the villain.