Difficult" and "impossible" are cousins often mistaken for one another, with very little in common." (Locke Lamora to Requin)

To us — richer and cleverer than everyone else!

In the glass burrow beneath their feet, the flames began to rise. First the flames, and then the screams

... It's perfect! Locke would appreciate it." "Bug," Calo said, "Locke is our brother and our love for him knows no bounds. But the four most fatal words in the Therin language are 'Locke would appreciate it.'" "Rivalled only by 'Locke taught me a new trick,'" added Galo. "The only person who gets away with Locke Lamora games ..." "... is Locke ..." "... because we think the gods are saving him up for a really big death. Something with knives and hot irons ..." "... and fifty thousand cheering spectators.

We like what we like, we want what we want, and nobody needs to give us permission to feel that way!

Advice,' Doña Vorchenza chuckled. 'Advice. The years play a sort of alchemical trick, transmuting one's mutterings to a state of respectability. Give advice at forty and you're a nag. Give it at seventy and you're a sage.

I don't have to beat you. I don't have to beat you, motherfucker. I just have to keep you here... until Jean shows up.