The corpse's hand reached up and grabbed Shaisam by the throat. He gasped, thrashing, as the corpse opened its eye. "There's an odd thing about disease I once heard, Fain," Matrim Cauthon whispered. "Once you catch a disease and survive, you can't get it again.

Take what you can have. Rejoice in what you can save, and do not mourn your losses for too long.

I will hate the man you choose because he isn't me, and love him if he makes you smile.

Taking responsibility takes all the joy out of life, and drains a man to dust.

Nobody tells us how to be men. We just are.

Sandar came to stand beside him, frowning down at the crumpled High Lord. "He does not look so mighty lying there," he said wonderingly. "He does not look so much greater than me.

I will hate the man you choose because he is not me, and love him if he makes you smile. No woman deserves the sure knowledge of widow’s black as her brideprice, you least of all.