Dan

“The sword is like a serpent. You can try to tame it, but it is venomous and will often bite the hand that holds it.”
― Matthew Harffy, The Serpent Sword

“Curious,” Bauchelain said. “What is it you wish us to do for you?”

“Usurp the king,” Imid Factalo said.

“Usurp, as in depose.”

“Right.”

“Depose, as in remove.”

“Yes.”

“Remove, as in kill.”
― Steven Erikson, Bauchelain and Korbal Broach

“I take it you do not agree with your countrymen’s religious practices.’

‘Oh no,’ said Hippothous. ‘I am not Cilician by birth. Mine has been a long and tragic path. I was born in Perinthus, the noble city close by Byzantium. My father was on the Boule. When I was young, I fell desperately in love. Hyperanthes was nearly my age. Stripped for wrestling in the gymnasium, he was like a god. And his eyes – no sidelong glances or fearsome looks, no trace of villainy or dissembling.’

As they ate, Hippothous told them a tale of love, lust, subterfuge, murder, flight, shipwreck, loss and exile – a tale worthy of a Greek romance.

‘Probably from a fucking Greek romance,’ muttered Calgacus.”
― Harry Sidebottom, Lion of the Sun