Marco Polo tells the tale of The Old Man in the Mountains and how he recruits new members to his Band of Assassins by means of drugs, beautiful women, lush gardens, and religious promises. The unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones.

You learn more quickly under the guidance of experienced teachers. You waste a lot of time going down blind alleys if you have no one to lead you.

Life is really very fantastic, and one has to have a peculiar sense of humour to see the fun of it. [Virtue]

I prefer a loose woman to a selfish one and a wanton to a fool.

It is unsafe to take your reader for more of a fool than he is.

The drama is make-believe. It does not deal with truth but with effect.

There's nothing the world loves more than a ready-made description which they can hang on to a man, and so save themselves all trouble in future.