A Practical Guide to Conquering the World (The Siege, #3)

by K.J. Parker

On the other hand, death isn’t like the last ship east in autumn; if you miss it, you’re stuck where you are for at least three months until the weather improves. Death is prepared to wait. It’s always there for you, like your mother.

Luck, according to Saloninus, is like a cart full of diamonds perched on the very edge of a cliff. Best if you don’t push it.

Simply because something is factually wrong doesn’t make it untrue.

Moral: don’t play with savage things that are stronger than you are.

Seventy years ago they made a bit of a stir at the Echmen court when a political dissident sought refuge with them and the Echmen demanded his extradition. What they got was the dissident’s head, perfectly preserved in a jar of wild honey. I happen to like honey, but not as much as that.

but anyone who tells you it’s impossible to be madly in love with two people at the same time clearly doesn’t go to the theatre.

Old Echmen proverb: when falling off a high tower, try to fly. You never know your luck and what’ve you got to lose?

The Cataboeans are all right. They believe some truly weird stuff. They believe that they’re the only people on earth, and all the other anthropoid entities they meet are the spirits of the dead.