“Its against the rules of humanity to believe there is nothing we can do.”

“Sir Topher finally looked up. Because any hope beyond that, my boy, would be too much. I feared we would drown in it."Then I choose to drown, Finnikin said. In hope. Rather than float into nothing.”

“Then I choose to drown. In hope. Rather than float into nothing.”

“He hesitated, remembering something Finnikin had said to him on their journey. That somehow, even in the worst of times, the tiniest fragments of good survive. It was the grip in which one held tho...”

“How unladylike of you to mention such a thing.”

“Today this courtyard was filled with great warriors. What is more? But it was not filled with great men who have the heart to rule a kingdom. Any man can kill, Finnikin. It is a stroke, an action w...”

“The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he is on.”

“Soldiers manage by dividing themselves. They're one man in the killing, another at home, and the man that dandles his bairn on his knee has nothing to do wi' the man who crushed his enemy's throat ...”

“The world is vicious, too huge to care about even its own survival”