Wars are often waged not because of what we believe, but because of the things we want others to believe.

I'll never understand how a man can live his life With his finger on the self-destruct button, Holding it there day after day, Blinded by an obsession to press it But lacking the conviction to do even that.

Cowards hide [...] but warriors lie and wait [...] the only difference is whether you're motivated by fear or purpose.

Lev smiles. "Leave it to you to turn someone else's screwup into gold

I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless.

Either things happen for a reason, or they happen for no reason at all. Either one's life is a thread in a glorious tapestry or humanity is just a hopelessly tangled knot.

Your hair looks funny," Lief said, as soon as the Ugloids left. "It stands straight up!" No," said Nick, intensely irritated, "It's hanging straight down." Lief just gave him an upside-down shrug. "Up is down in China and you're part-Chinese.