He believes in that mummery a good deal less than I do, and I don't believe in it at all.

It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.

Courtiers don't take wagers against the king's skill.

For it is the chief characteristic of the religion of science, that it works, and that such curses as that of Aporat's are really deadly.

A fire eater must eat fire even if he has to kindle it himself.

Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.

There's something about a pious man such as he. He will cheerfully cut your throat if it suits him, but he will hesitate to endanger the welfare of your immaterial and problematical soul.

The whole business is the crudest sort of stratagem, since we have no way of foreseeing it to the end. It is a mere paying out of rope on the chance that somewhere along the length of it will be a noose.

To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.

Korell is that frequent phenomenon in history: the republic whose ruler has every attribute of the absolute monarch but the name. It therefore enjoyed the usual despotism unrestrained even by those two moderating influences in the legitimate monarchies: regal, honor and court etiquette.