“The stars were better company anyway. They were very beautiful, and they almost never snored.”

“Why do some trees stay green while others change their color?Certain trees need to show off, dear. Im sure that my big brother could explain why it happens. Dahlaine loves to explain things, and he...”

“Its different," Sorgans younger cousin Torl declared, gesturing at the glorious sunset late that afternoon. "Its pretty enough, I suppose, but its not too much like the sunsets out at sea. Mountain...”

“It keeps him happy, Dahlaine, and happy people are nicer than gloomy ones. Haven't you noticed that before?”

“I thought the trees down in Lady Zelanas country were about as big as a tree could get, he said, but the ones around here are so tall that they probably tickle the moons tummy when she goes by.”

“Dont throw good ideas away until youve considered all of your options.”

“Is there magic in this world? Certainly! But it is not the kind of magic written about in fantasy stories. It is the kind of magic that comes from ideas and the hard work it often takes to make the...”

“We become what we behold. We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.”

“A culture of unaccountability is a culture without incentive, and a culture without incentive is the death of critical and creative thinking.”

“And if we never visit Paris, that's okay. Your heart is my exotic destination every day.”

“The meal she served was unlike any I had encountered in Vienna, or anywhere else: red seaweed garnished with pickled radishes; black rice noodles and spotted mushrooms boiled in wine, grilled squid...”

“One might trouble one's dainty snout with a whiff of the taleggio displayed in an artisanal cheese shop, or take a saucer of jasmine tea and a knuckle of fennel-scented snuff at a counter of buffed...”

“If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old”

“I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.”

“Each voice carries a portion of value, no matter how unpalatable or distasteful that voice may be: no one person, government, ideology, transnational, or religious institution can own and dominate ...”