David Eddings

Getting some of your people killed is part of the business of command.

Althalus took the child by the scruff of the neck and hauled him to the fire.
“I didn’t do anything!” the child protested in a shrill voice, struggling to get free.
“That’s probably because you’re too clumsy for this line of work."

Religion’s based on a desire to know what’s going to happen in the future. Astrologers believe that the stars control that.

“I’m stinking rich, Em,” he said exuberantly.
I’ve been noticing that for several days now. You’re long overdue for a bath.
“That’s not what I meant, little kitten.”
It should have been. You’re strong enough to curdle milk.

Sick, isn't it?" Dhakan replied. "Our glorious, but slightly warped, leader hasn't let him out of her sight since the day he was captured.

Somehow you’ve managed to redefine the concept of evil. In your view, evil’s no more than a disagreement about the way things are supposed to be.

“What did you do to Andine to bring her around? She didn’t really want to sell Eliar to me.”
I persuaded her to love me more than she hated him.
“I thought you couldn’t do that sort of thing out here.” I didn’t create her love, pet. All I did was encourage it. Andine’s very young and very passionate. She loves—and hates—with her blood and bones, and she loves even more intensely than she hates. All I had to do to unleash her love was to be adorable. I’m an expert at that, if you’ll recall.
“I still think you’re cheating, Em.”
No, not really. Andine’s very pretty, and she smells nice. She’s soft and warm, and that voice of hers throbs like a bell. She’s very easy to love, and she responds to love with love of her own. I didn’t cheat her, Althalus. I did love her—and I still do.
“I thought you were supposed to love only me.”
What a ridiculous idea. Just because I love her, it doesn’t mean that I love you less. My love is boundless, you know.

"His father was killed in a war several years ago, and Eliar became his mother’s only support. [...] [His] mother needed his soldier’s pay to keep eating. [...] Your father was unlucky enough to get in his way while he was showing his veneration for his parents. Isn’t that sort of what you were doing when you were planning to kill him before Althalus came along?”
“It’s not the same thing at all, Bheid [...] My father was the Aryo of Osthos. Eliar’s father was just a common soldier.”
“And do you believe that Eliar loved his father less than you loved yours? We all love and revere our parents, Andine, and the peasant or common soldier loves—and grieves—as deeply as the aristocrat. You might want to think about that just a bit before you launch yourself into your next tirade.”

A good soldier avoids politics and religion, but if all you want me to do is spank them and send them home, we’ll do it that way.

What's really going on in Perquaine?"
"A peasant rebellion—at least on the surface."
Albron shook his head mournfully. "The lowlanders just don't understand ordinary people, do they?"
"They haven't got a clue. The aristocrats spend so much time admiring themselves in their mirrors that they don't pay much attention to the commoners. From what I've heard, these rebellions break out every ten years or so. You'd think that after five or six times, the aristocrats might start to realize that they're doing something wrong."
"I certainly hope not. If the lowlanders start behaving like rational human beings, the clans of Arum are going to be out of work.

The prosperity of all Arum might well hinge upon what we do here in this day... [If] Arum Chiefs are dishonorable men, who will ever come to these sacred mountains again with gold to deal with us? Take less, my sons, that ye may gain more.

I wouldn't have any trouble working for a woman," Chief Gweti bleated, "as long as she's rich enough. I'd work for a rich goat, if he offered me enough gold.

I'm pretty good at that. There were a lot of things I did when I was just a boy that I didn't tell her about. I didn't come right out and lie to her, of course. A boy should never lie to his mother, but now and then things sort of slipped my mind. You know how that can happen."
"Oh, yes." Althalus laughed. "Things have been slipping my mind for as long as I can remember.

The word “coincidence” always seems to start religious arguments for some reason.

Well . . ." Andine looked helplessly at the cat in her lap. "She's so adorable," the girl said, catching Emmy up in her arms and snuggling her face up to the furry captor of her heart.
"You noticed," Althalus said drily. "Don't try to fight her, because she always wins. Just give her all your love and do as she tells you to do. You might as well, because she'll cheat to get what she wants if she has to.