If soot stains your tunic, dye it black. This is vengeance.

The world is only as deep as we can see. This is why fools think themselves profound. This is why terror is the passion of revelation.

Love is lust made meaningful. Hope is hunger made human.

If the world is a game whose rules are written by the God, and sorcerers are those who cheat and cheat, then who has written the rules of sorcery?

To be a student required a peculiar kind of capitulation, a willingness not simply to do as one is told, but to surrendor the movements of one's soul to the unknown complexities of another's. A willingness, not simply to be moved, but to be remade.

A beggar's mistake harms no one but the beggar. A king's mistake, however, harms everyone but the king. Too often, the measure of power lies not in the number who obey your will, but in the number who suffer your stupidity.

I wanted a literate, socially intricate, and cosmopolitan world - something I could have fun destroying.