The Complete Farseer Trilogy ( The Farseer Trilogy, #1-3)

by Robin Hobb

I have since come to know that many men always see another’s good fortune as a slight to themselves.

‘Most prisons are of our own making. A man makes his own freedom, too.’

‘When you spring to an idea, and decide it is truth, without evidence, you blind yourself to other possibilities.

But there it is; sometimes luck belongs to children and madmen.

‘Very little worth knowing is taught by fear,’

later wondered if that might not be the secret of the harmonious household; that all, servants or royalty, be treated with the same courtesy.

Stop defining yourself by what you can’t do.

Some things may be learned from words on a page, but some skills are learned first by a man’s hand and heart, and later by his head.

One can only walk so far from one’s true self before the bond either snaps, or pulls one back.

Trust is not trust until it is complete.

For myself, I think some things are beyond words. The colour blue can only be experienced, as can the scent of jasmine or the sound of a flute. The curve of a warm, bared shoulder, the uniquely feminine softness of a breast, the startled sound one makes when all barriers suddenly yield, the perfume of her throat, the taste of her skin are all but parts, and sweet as they may be, they do not embody the whole. A thousand such details still would not illustrate it.

What good is a life lived as if it made no difference at all to the great life of the world? A sadder thing I cannot imagine. Why should not a mother say to herself, if I raise this child aright, if I love and care for her, she shall live a life that brings joy to those about her, and thus I have changed the world? Why should not the farmer that plants a seed say to his neighbour, this seed I plant today will feed someone, and that is how I change the world today?’

“The man who must brag for himself knows that no one else will.”

No man is so dangerous as the man who cannot decide what he fears.

The exercise for centring oneself is a simple one. Stop thinking of what you intend to do. Stop thinking of what you have just done. Then, stop thinking that you have stopped thinking of those things. Then you will find the Now, the time that stretches eternal, and is really the only time there is. Then, in that place, you will finally have time to be yourself.

It is quite one thing to admit a fault to yourself. It is another thing entirely to have a friend not only agree with you, but point out the full depth of the fault.

One does not have to be Witted to know the companionship of a beast, and to know that the friendship of an animal is every bit as rich and complicated as that of a man or woman.

‘Not the end of the world, Tom. The end of time. To free humanity of time. For time is the great enslaver of us all. Time that ages us, time that limits us. Think how often you have wished to have more time for something, or wished you could go back a day and do something differently.

‘You don’t shout at them, or make sudden moves that look threatening. You give them good feed and clean water, and keep them clean and give them shelter from the weather.’ His voice drops accusingly as he adds, ‘You don’t take out your temper on them, or confuse punishment with discipline.’

know of nothing more warming than hot meat and tea and good fellowship.

‘Sometimes it is better to rest before you are tired. If we sleep while it is dark, we will work better by the day’s light.’