A Thaum is the basic unit of magical strength. It has been universally established as the amount of magic needed to create one small white pigeon or three normal-sized billiard balls.

Some people are heroes. And some people jot down notes.

...it is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you're attempting can't be done.

It was a backwards memory of an event in his future so terrifying that it had generated harmonics of fear all the way along his lifeline.

Who knew what evil lurked in the hearts of men? A copper, that's who. (...)You saw how close men lived to the beast. You realized that people like Carcer were not mad. They were incredibily sane. They were simply men without a shield. They'd looked at the world and realized that all the rules didn't have to apply to them, not if they didn't want them to. They weren't fooled by all the little stories. They shook hands with the beast.

In the words of the philosopher Sceptum, the founder of my profession: am I going to get paid for this?

They can tak' oour lives but they canna tak' oour troousers!