Old habits are hard to forget, and old fears are habits.

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

There were two things going on: 1) I had already established in my own mind where I wanted to go with the next series, and having James around as a Grey Eminence would have complicated matters. He had had an amazing life and it was time to bid him good-bye.

The world is much larger than I once dreamed, or perhaps my place in it is smaller than I once realized.

Never accept the proposition that just because a solution satisfies a problem, that it must be the only solution.

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.

You would do well to know, Marcus, that irritating a better swordsman than yourself is a good way to end up dead.