“His face set in grim determination, Richard slogged ahead, his fingers reaching up to touch the tooth under his shirt. Loneliness, deeper than he had never known, sagged his shoulders. All his friends were lost to him. He knew now that his life was not his own. It belonged to his duty, to his task. He was the Seeker. Nothing more. Nothing less. Not his own man, but a pawn to be used by others. A tool, same as his sword, to help others, that they might have the life he had only glimpsed for a twinkling.He was no different from the dark things in the boundary. A bringer of death.”

“I will have to admit, though, that I will never look at an apple in quite the same way.”

“Celebrating faith over reason is merely a way of denying what is, in favor of embracing any whim that strikes your fancy.”

“If something is wrong, it matters not if a thousand men are for it; you must still oppose it. If something is just, no amount of popular outcry should stay you from your course.”

“Perception was easily accomplished, required little effort, and it never had to stand the test of reality.”

“That is the curse of lying, Sister. Once you place that crown of the liar upon your head, you can take it off again, but it leaves a stain for all time.”

“We all can be only who we are, no more, no less.”

“I am who I am; no more, no less.”