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

by Robin Hobb

Is it the nature of the world that all things seek a rhythm, and in that rhythm a sort of peace? Certainly it has always seemed so to me. All events, no matter how earthshaking or bizarre, are diluted within moments of their occurrence by the continuance of the necessary routines of day-to-day living.

Her ambitions have always exceeded her abilities.”

That hadn’t stopped me from developing a feeling of closeness for him; one needn’t love in order to depend.

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

I’ll be teaching you the nasty, furtive, polite ways to kill people.

Learning is never wrong.

“Be your blood, boy, and ignore what anyone else thinks of you.”

The welfare of the people belongs to the people, and they have the right to object if their duke stewards it poorly.

“Most prisons are of our own making. A man makes his own freedom, too.”

A true prince has very little freedom when it comes to where he will go or how he will spend his time.

It was an impressive display of good food abused in the name of fashionable cooking.

Time and tide wait for no man.

The sea was cold, the night was black, and if I’d had any sense, I’d have wished myself elsewhere, but there is something in a boy that takes the mundanely difficult and unpleasant and turns it into a personal challenge and an adventure.

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

But sometimes there are no choices but poor ones. Sometimes, in bad times like these.”

“Evil times have come to us, and they will be with us for a long time. It is a time when good men must create whatever weapons they can.

“Sometimes,” grumbled Chade, “it is better to be defiantly wrong than silent.

It is a heady thing to be suddenly proclaimed the center of someone’s world, even if that someone is an eight-week-old puppy.

Once again my life sought a balance and briefly found it.

For a very brief period I was happy, and, an even rarer gift, I knew I was happy.

My worry was a burden I couldn’t put down.

But when all roads lead to death, there is no point to running down any of them.

The Wit was not dominion over beasts, but only a glimpse into their lives.

The appetite for the Skill is one that devours a man, not one that nourishes him.”

I’d rather unman a man with a blade than turn the hounds of his own mind to nipping at his heels.”

Reminding myself that these “servants” might be better born than myself, I treated them all with great courtesy and later wondered if that might not be the secret of the harmonious household, that all servants or royalty, be treated with the same courtesy.

There can be no misunderstandings if there are no understandings at all.

And your duty is the same. To live so that you may continue to present possibilities.”

I do not know who I wish to win; until I do, I will let no player be eliminated.”

People are intimidated by a man who acts with no apparent regard for consequences. Behave as if you cannot be touched and no one will dare to touch you.