"It was suicide, wasn't it?" "In an involuntary sort of way," said Vorob'yev. "These Cetagandan political suicides can get awfully messy, when the principal won't cooperate." "Thirty-two stab wounds in the back, worst case of suicide they ever saw?" murmured Ivan, clearly fascinated by the gossip. "Exactly, my lord."

The principle difference between heaven and hell is the company you keep there.

It was never what I wanted to buy that held my heart's hope. It was what I wanted to be.

Real destiny takes everything-the last drop of blood, and strip out your veins to be sure-and gives it back doubled. Quadrupled. A thousand-fold! But you can't give halves. You have to give it all. I know. I swear. I've come back from the dead to speak the truth to you. Real destiny gives you a mountain of life, and puts you on top of it.

I miss it every minute, and I have no wish at all to go back.

My dinner party,' Miles grated. 'It's just breaking up.' And sinking. All souls feared lost.

I am not a fate worse than death, dammit!