More men have been defeated by reports than all the steel of all the swords in history.

But for the most part, love is a recognition, an opportunity to say, 'There is something about you I cherish.

My dear dead mother wanted me to go into an honorable trade, like grave robbing. Would I listen? No. Be an assassin, like your uncle Gustav, she said. Would I pay heed? No. Apprentice to the Necromancer―

The real secret of magic is that there is no magic.

You can only have one first born child. You may love all your children deeply and with passion, but there is something unique about the first born.

Don't assume the world evolved in the order in which you discovered it.

Every person you encounter, whom you interact with, is there to teach you something. Sometimes it may be years before you realize what each had to show you.