God had mercy, he knew. The Mongols had none.

He would never understand women, he thought. They were life’s great mystery.

For the khan, we will take their cities, their women, and their lands. This is the great raid, the farthest strike in the history of the nation of Genghis. We will not be stopped.

Sometimes, power could change hands as quickly as a knife thrust.

The nation of my father is too strong for a man who cannot command even his own body.

A man needs to feel a little fear, Tolui, if only to have the pride of conquering it.

As he prepared to ride on, he chuckled at the thought of the wolf entering the sheepfold. He would not ride with fire and destruction. The shepherd did not frighten his own pretty lambs.

The wisdom of age is bitter when those you have failed have gone.

There is no escape from me, not even in death.

Turn back to humanity – to the world – to love! Become gardeners – whatever you want! – become nothing! – and the whole of space will be free for you.

A fate is not a punishment.

People who get through life dependent on other people's possessions are always the first to lecture you on how little possessions count.

I feel displaced when I'm back in America, like a visitor. I feel like if I don't get a cup of tea I'm going to lose my mind.

You need others. Too often people think that being unique means being isolated, and being a great artist means coming up with genius ideas out of nowhere. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Fortune is not only blind herself, but blinds the people she has embraced.

the emotions at death, as at birth, are instinctive and primitive.

Better to be unborn than untaught, for ignorance is the root of all misfortune.

Dejardins was so stunned, he momentarily forgot how to speak English. "Ce n'est pas possible. On ne pourrait pas-

I roll onto my side and stare out the venetian blinds at the blue sky beyond. After a few minutes I'm lulled into a sort of peace. The sky, the sky--same as it always was.