My word is iron, " Kublai said to the guards, as Meng Guang was led away. "Your people will come to know this, in time.

It's all you can say, when the end comes: 'I did not waste my time.' I think that matters. I think it may be all that matters.

History was more than just stories, he reminded himself as the men walked forward with their burdens. It taught lessons as well.

The world cannot be full of lead dogs, or the pack would pull itself apart.

There is a price for all things, my son, for all men. I have merely to find his.

No worthy goal should come easily, he told himself. Suffering created value.

I am not you and all my choices have already been made, good and bad.

I am the rightful khan of the nation. I am the gur-khan. My word is iron and my word is law.

Predators did not need mercy.

Sung Win smiled to himself, enjoying the tension across his shoulders and the way his pulse beat in his veins. All life involved risk.

You have a powerful army, Kublai, but the best force is one you do not have to use.

You have to live each hour as if it's your last and each day as if you were immortal. - Kate Sheffield

What is the nature of human beings? When someone does something wrong to them, they will go after him [to punish, to fight].

There is no mountain on earth which is greater than the mountain of human madness!

All great composers of the past spent most of their time studying. Feeling alone won't do the job. A man also needs technique.

What I believe, according to my own experience, is that a calm, peaceful mind is a very important element for sustaining the body in a balanced way.

Morals and criticism are not so properly objects of the understanding as of taste and sentiment.

Learning when 'enough is enough' is the discipline of a lifetime.

pain can work form the outside in.

I finally feel content with my work. My fruit has started to ripen. I'm able to dissect emotion properly and distill it into a song that reverberates in a truthful place.

If I go out to dinner with you and you order wine, I leave. I won't be around drugs and alcohol at all.