There were many good years. Good decades, good centuries. We believed we were living in paradise. Perhaps that was our downfall. We wanted our lives to be perfect, so we ignored imperfections. Problems were magnified through inattention and war might have become inevitable if the Bore hadn't ever made.

The people seemed nearly ostentatious about minding their own business.

When a woman says she will obey you, of her own will, it is time to sleep lightly and watch your back.

A beautiful battle is one you don't have to fight

Storms rumble beyond the horizon, and the fires of heaven purge the earth. There is no salvation without destruction, no hope this side of death.

Often you don't know whether a woman is friend, enemy or lover until it is too late. Sometimes, she is all three.

I have never known anyone else," Egwene said to him, "who will work so hard to avoid hard work, Matrim Cauthon.