The Darkness That Comes Before (The Prince of Nothing, #1)

by R. Scott Bakker

Politics, he thought sourly. It was not, as the philosopher Ajencis had written, the negotiation of advantage within communities of men; it was more an absurd auction than an exercise in oratory. One bartered principle and piety to accomplish what principle and piety demanded. One sullied himself in order to be cleansed.

“Men are dogs. The only difference is they sniff asses with their eyes.”