Murtagh (The Inheritance Cycle #5)

by Christopher Paolini

“Because a scar means you survived. It means you’re tough and hard to kill. It means you lived. A scar is something to admire.”

“But sometimes, if you work very hard, you can mend a break so that it’s stronger than before.”

“Well, far as I see it, there’s no putting a price on pain, if’n you follow. Everyone’s entitled to their own. Would be a strange thing t’ say that some pain is easier ’an others without knowin’ what it’s like

You could no more seek to control the wind or the rain than to control magic.

yet, to be seen as he was, and accepted…was there any greater grace?

He shuddered and looked to the sky for strength. He wished things had been different. But the past couldn’t be changed, and the hurts they had suffered would be a part of them forevermore.

Weakness was dangerous; weakness allowed others to hurt and exploit you. Weakness was the first step on the path to death.

“They’re just emotions. Emotions aren’t you.” He tapped Thorn’s foreleg. “You can feel them, you can let them pass through you, but who you are doesn’t change. Remember that. Remember the parts of your true name that describe the best parts of you and hold to them.”