Robin Hobb

One horse cannot bear two saddles.

“If the shoe does not fit, one cannot wear it, no matter who made it for you,”

“You can hold out longer under torture if you focus on what you will say rather than what you won’t. I’ve heard of men repeating the same phrase, over and over, long past the point where they could hear the questions anymore. By focusing on what you will say, you make it less likely you’ll say that which you don’t wish to.”

The exercise for centering oneself is a simple one. Stop thinking of what you intend to do. Stop thinking of what you have just done. Then, stop thinking that you have stopped thinking of those things. Then you will find the Now, the time that stretches eternal, and is really the only time there is. Then, in that place, you will finally have time to be yourself.

Wolves have no Kings.

So I hungered for knowledge of them, but dared not attempt to satisfy that hunger.

Her hair was glistening black where it peeped from her hood, but not all of the white in it was snow.

Our procession attracted the attention of the locals, but it was a surreptitious curiosity they showed us. I wondered when it had become bad luck to wonder too much about the King’s business.

Finally, he promised her he would tell no one, and bade her to think well and do what she wished to do, not what she thought was wisest. Then they said no more, so I went in. She excused herself and departed. Later, you came and said she had left you.” He paused. “Actually, looking back, I was as dull-witted as you, not to have worked it out just from that.”

“Thank you,” I told him dryly.

“You’re welcome. Though I will admit we all had much on our minds that day.”

“I’d give anything to be able to go back in time and tell her that our child would be the most important thing in the world for me. More important than king or country.”

Nighteyes developed a taste for a certain seedcake that was also the Fool’s favorite. The wolf would stare fixedly at him whenever the Fool was eating it, drooling great pools of saliva onto the floor until the Fool would relent and give him a share. I scolded them both about what sweets could do to his teeth and coat and was ignored by both of them.