Kushiel's Dart

That which yields is not always weak.

There is no fulfillment that is not made sweeter for the prolonging of desire

When Love cast me out, it was Cruelty who took pity upon me

It's funny, how one can look back on a sorrow one thought one might well die of at the time, and know that one had not yet reckoned the tenth part of true grief.

Oh love and hate are two sides of the same blade

Stand at the crossroads if you will, but if you'll not choose, I'll move on without you

If you will not die for us, you cannot ask us to die for you.

Yes my lord, but questions are dangerous, for they have answers

Surely if we knew what bitterness fate held in store, we would shrink back in fear and let the cup of life pass us by untasted.

If I had to fall from Cassiel's grace, at least I know it took a courtesan worthy of Kings to do it.

It is my observations, though, that happiness limits the amount of suffering one is willing to inflict upon others

To have a traitor for an ally is to have an enemy in waiting

A little truth seasons a lie like salt.

For this too I learned, that a storyteller's tale may end, but history goes on always. These events, so distant in legend, play a part in shaping the very events we witness about us, each and every day.

There are those who do not hold that there is any innate goodness to mankind. To them I say, had you lived my life, you would not believe it. I have known the depths to which mortals are capable of descending, and I have seen the heights. I have seen how kindness and compassion may grow in the unlikeliest of places, as the mountain flower forces its way through the stern rock.

Some chains are forged for us - those are the hardest to bear.

There are those who are awkward in the face of sorrow, fearing to say the wrong thing; to them, I say, there is no wrong in comfort, ever. A kind word, a consoling arm ... these things are ever welcome.

I had begun to think my ripening body would wither untasted on the vine.

Pain obliterates everything else. In pain, there is only the eternal present.

For every victory there is a price.

Only insofar as you enjoy being sorry, my dear, which, while it is a considerable amount, occurs only after the fact, thus making it a singularly ineffective deterrent, yes?

And Kushiel sends no punishment that we are not fit to bear.

Beauty is at its most poignant when the cold hand of Death holds poised to wither it imminently.

Pain redeems all. It is the awareness of life, a reminder of death.