...nothing in the world is harder than convincing someone of an unfamiliar truth.

Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times.

There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.

Books are a poor substitute for female companionship, but they are easier to find.

I've always liked the moonless night best. It's easier to say things in the dark. It's easier to be yourself.

I am no poet. I do not love words for the sake of words. I love words for what they can accomplish. Similarly, I am no arithmetician. Numbers that speak only of numbers are of little interest to me.

Dawn was coming. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts.

Death was like an unpleasant neighbor. You didn’t talk about him for fear he might hear you and decide to pay a visit.

Hespe's mouth went firm. She didn't scowl exactly, but it looked like she was getting all the pieces of a scowl together in one place, just in case she needed them in a hurry.

My bad luck got tangled up with my bad decisions, and I'm paying for it.

Pride is always a better lever against the nobility than reason.

Books are more to treasure than cars.

'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' was the work of a wayward imagination brought to the end of its tether by political disgust and personal confusion.

Once you get into the world of dystopia, it's hard to avoid plagiarism, because other people have had such powerful visions.

Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.

If you kill a character people feel sad. That's too easy.

The essence of the game is not "fun," but the soul-satisfying awareness that comes from communal work and sacrifice.

First be a magnificent artist and then you can do whatever, but the art must be first.

People demand freedom only when they have no power.

There are two places in the world where men can most effectively disappear - the city of London and the South Seas.

I was thinking one of the great things about fiction is we, as a race, only get to look out of our own eyes at the world. And fiction is a fantastic way of looking out through somebody else's eyes.