Avner had lived too long and become too canny to claim the crown of Israel for himself.

I have lived most of my life in soldiers’ camps. I know what they saw. I know how they think. Their confidence sours as sudden as curdled milk.

I thought it best to add nothing further, to let the line of his thought lead him to his own conclusions.

Even though he said no store in uncanny things, he was soldier enough to value with whatever weapon came to hand.

When a kingdom rests on it, I always expect difficulty. Then, if there is none, no blame. But if there is, one is prepared.

No one sits, as you do, so close to a king, who does not begin to grasp how the levers of power work, and the cost of the oil that must grease them.

This night he was a king before he was a man. At this time, this troubled me. Later, I would have cause to wish it were always so.

He is able to put aside personal feelings and see the broad strokes. Experience counts in these things.

David ran through concrete advantages. And then set aside the practical. The pragmatist was gone, replaced by the poet and mystic.

If soldiering did not interest him, the soldiers themselves were another matter. He loved to sit with the men and draw out their first-hand stories of past campaigns.

The stories that grow up around a king are strong vines with a fierce grip.

The world is a better place to live in because it contains human beings who will give up ease and security and stake their own lives in order to do what they themselves think worth doing.

India will become the richest country in the world when all the politicians and their associates return their inappropriate money and assets to the government,

Antonia was very conscious of the corrosive power of envy and felt that it was this emotion, more than any other, which lay behind human unhappiness. People did not realise how widespread envy was.

The first thing you have to learn is how to conduct dialogue and how to make it productive.

I don't like balance. Balance is not a word you can use in Versace fashion.

If on your journey you should encounter GOD, GOD will be cut

O hasten, Lord, these promised days, When Israel shall rejoice, And Jew and Gentile join in praise, With one united voice!

I like to write about things that are dark or twisted. Where the poetry seems to be is when you start in the dark and reach for the light - that's what makes it not depressing to me.

I see my writing happening more naturally. Just to relax into it and capture all of the good stuff in a calm and connected fashion.