The Stone of Farewell (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #2)

by Tad Williams

“Not everyone can stand up and be a hero, Princess,” he said quietly. “Some prefer to surrender to the inevitable and salve their consciences with the gift of survival.”

But no one ever explained how terrible it is to be in the middle of a tale and not to know the ending. . . .

He was not great; he was, in fact, very small. At the same moment, though, he was important, just as any point of light in a dark sky might be the star that led a mariner to safety, or the star watched by a lonely child during a sleepless night. . . .

“Simple answers to life’s questioning. That would be a magic beyond any I have ever been seeing.”

“Never make your home in a place,” the old man had told him that day. “Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You’ll find what you need to furnish it—memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey . . .”

If you have a proud and headstrong woman, you would be better off not to judge your success by her obedience.

Sometimes obvious foolishness is the only answer to grave problems.”

The lamps of cities blur many shadows that are plain beneath the moon.”