The Complete Elenium Trilogy: The Diamond Throne / The Ruby Knight / The Sapphire Rose (The Elenium, #1-3)

by David Eddings

Religious leaders tend to change their names fairly often to fit the prejudices of their followers.

‘Self-righteousness is one of the most common – and least attractive – characteristics of man.’

‘Of course it’s obvious, but you have to be obvious when you’re dealing with deranged people. They don’t have the concentration to grasp subtlety.’

‘Sometimes I think this whole nobility business is a farce anyway. Men are men – titled or not. I don’t think God cares, so why should we?’

Civilized man believes that his cities are the crown of his culture and seems incapable of grasping the fact that the foundation of any kingdom is the land upon which it rests. When a nation’s agriculture falters, its economy begins to collapse, and governments starved for revenue inevitably fall back on the most regressive of all forms of taxation, heaping additional burdens on an already suffering peasantry.