Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy, #1)

by Robin Hobb

I grew up fatherless and motherless in a court where all recognized me as a catalyst. And a catalyst I became.

You’ve learned to guard your thoughts so well, you’re almost afraid to let yourself know what they are.

Learning is never wrong.

“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. That night I felt we were both.

Boys are fools.

Men cannot grieve as dogs do. But we grieve for many years.