Lincoln

“The more she sticks the knife in, the more I resent it, the less I actually think about what she’s been saying. That, of course, presupposes that the object of the exercise from her point of view is to change my mind about what I’m doing, as opposed to beating me to a pulp.”
― K.J. Parker, How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It

“Hadrian took the clay pot left on their table and poured tea into his cup until it overflowed. “Every cup is different, but each can only hold so much. Eventually you either stop pouring or make an awful mess. Make a big enough mess and you have to clean up; you have to change.” Hadrian looked at the pool of tea dripping through the slats of the wobbly table. “I made a really big mess, and it wasn’t tea I spilled.” They were both looking at the puddle of tea when the screaming started.”
― Michael J. Sullivan, The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter

“That’s how it can be carried into Phyre. You see, all living things come from the union of Eton, God of the Heavens, and Elan, Grand Mother of All. He is the sky, the eternal, the unending. She—Elan—is the world that brings forth life and reclaims it. All life born of Eton and Elan has two parts: eternal spirit and temporary body. When the body dies, Elan takes it back. That”
― Michael J. Sullivan, Age of Legend

“The notion of a life spent tilling fields was repellent to the Teblor warrior. The rewards seemed to be exclusive to the highborn landowners, whilst the labourers themselves had only a minimal existence, prematurely aged and worn down by the ceaseless toil. And the distinction between high and low status was born from farming itself—or so it appeared to Karsa. Wealth was measured in control over other people, and the grip of that control could never be permitted to loosen. Odd, then, that this rebellion had had nothing to do with such inequities, that in truth it had been little more than a struggle between those who would be in charge.”
― Steven Erikson, House of Chains