If you want to build a car, you don't slap a bunch of iron ore, some sand, a rubber tree, and a couple of cows together and call it good

You're always in the kitchen," Alianora said when she poked her head through the door a moment later. "Or the library. Don't you ever do anything but cook and read?

She probably enjoys cutting up everyone's happiness. Not to mention cutting up other parts of people; given her penchant for poisoning people and turning them into beech trees, I fail to see how she has reached thirty without leaving a trail of bodies behind her.

She who laughs last may not invariably laugh best, but she does laugh.

Brant's an idealist, and he's competent. There are few more dangerous combinations in this world... Heroes are even more dangerous than idealists.

Out here, it's better safe than sorry, because generally speaking, too much of the time sorry means you're dead.

This is the most important lesson you must learn about magic," Miss Ochiba went on. "There are many ways of seeing. Each has an element of truth, but none is the whole truth. If you limit yourselves to one way of seeing, one truth, you will limit your power. You will also place limits on the kinds of spells you can cast, as well as their strength. To be a good magician, you must see in many ways. You must be flexible. You must be willing to learn from different sources. And you must always remember that the truths you see are incomplete.