Ariel

“We cannot save our clients from themselves. Someday in your career, Elayne, you will represent a man—almost certainly a man—who wants you to help him barter his soul to a demon for three wishes. When that day comes you may refuse his business, you may try to change his mind, but in the end if hell he wants, hell he will achieve.”
― Max Gladstone, Last First Snow

“Okay. Morality in a nutshell. Don't hurt people if you can avoid it. Don't steal stuff unless you're starving or it's really, really important. Work hard. Pay your bills. Try to help others. Always double-check your math if there are explosives involved. If you screwed it up, you need to see it gets fixed. And don't eat anything that talks. If it doesn't fall under one of those categories, just do the best you can.”
― Ursula Vernon, Digger, Volume One

“I do not make the rules [. . .] This annoys me, and so I comfort myself by breaking them”
― Ellen Kushner, The Privilege of the Sword

“Your son," she said, "needs a father."
"He needs a world less broken than this. All the sons need that. And the daughters, too."
"Is there such a world?"
"There must be.”
― Max Gladstone, Last First Snow