Shadow & Claw (The Book of the New Sun, #1-2)

by Gene Wolfe

We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges.

But Ymar the Almost Just, observing how cruel the women were and how often they exceeded the punishments he had decreed, ordered that there should be women among the torturers no more.

Behind the old man’s back, Drotte gave me a look that meant he knew much about Vodalus and would tell me at a convenient time.

“When a client speaks, Severian, you hear nothing. Nothing whatsoever. Think of mice, whose squeaking conveys no meaning to men.” I squinted to indicate that I was thinking of mice.