And I realized a wondrous truth: that knowledge could be our treasure, that there were things humankind knew that we did not, that our conquest need not comprise taking and killing, but could consist of our mutual conquest of ignorance and distrust.

If I could keep a single moment for all time, that would be the one. I became the very air; I was full of stars.

And I realized a wondrous truth: that knowledge could be our treasure, that there were things humankind knew that we did not, that our conquest need not comprise taking and killing, but could consist of our mutual conquest of ignorance and distrust.

The truth may not be told. Here is an acceptable lie.

I barely noticed loneliness anymore; it was my normal condition, by necessity if not by nature.

I had felt the shot coming; I hadn't realized the bow was loaded with this very quarrel, perfectly calibrated to hit him hardest. What part of me had been studying him, stockpiling knowledge as ammunition?

Did I become court composer through masterful procrastination? Hardly!