Never pass by a chance to shut up.

Unacceptable, maybe. But not unthinkable. Nothing's unthinkable once somebody's thought it.

Aristocrats might shrug, but commoners, dreading any collapse of the social order, wanted the rules of behavior to be observed.

Who could not return from a visit to Jack Vance's world, without feeling that he had been somewhere unique, that he had experienced things unavailable in our mundane world?

I hate no one, sir. It seems a waste of emotional energy.

To devote oneself to vigilance when the enemy is an imaginary one is idle, and to congratulate oneself for looking long and well for a foe that is not coming is foolish and sinful. My life has been a waste.

My temperament is not inclined toward more self-promotion than is absolutely necessary for my professional well-being.