David Eddings

“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.

I'll need a few kegs of your gold, though," he added.
Althalus shrugged. "I had a feeling that might crop up."
"'Money makes the mare go,'" Kreuter quoted.
"Wouldn't she settle for oats?"
"She might, but I won't.

We’re going out to save the world. It’s only right and proper that the people along the way should lend a hand, isn’t it?

"This grey’s sort of depressing.”
What on earth has that got to do with anything?
“It’s a question of aesthetics, Em. We should always strive to fill our lives with beauty.”
I don’t see anything beautiful in something that was designed to kill people.
“There’s beauty in everything, Em. You just have to learn to look for it.”
If you’re going to preach at me, I think I’ll just curl up and go back to sleep.

"... Can you pretend to be stupid?”
Eliar made a rueful kind of face. “Ma’am,” he said, “I’m a country boy from the highlands of Arum. We invented stupid.”

“You’ve got some fairly radical opinions for a member of the priesthood, Bheid,” Althalus suggested.
“The goal of mankind should be justice, Althalus. In their hearts, men really want to be just and kindly, but other things get in the way. It’s the duty of the priesthood to keep man on the right course.”
“Isn’t it just a little early in the day for these dense philosophical discussions?” Althalus asked. “It’s never too early—or too late—to learn, my son,” Bheid proclaimed sententiously. “Now, that’s really offensive.”
Bheid gave him a mischievous little smirk. “I’m glad you liked it,” he said.

Why do men always want to tamper with the natural order of things?
“When something breaks, we fix it, that’s all.”
What gave you the absurd idea that [the world]’s broken?
“It’s not the way it was before, Em. To our way of looking at things, that means that it’s broken.”
[...] Change doesn’t necessarily mean improvement, Althalus. Change is just change. “Better” and “worse” are human definitions. The world changes all the time, and no amount of complaining’s going to stop it from changing.

“Dear God!” Althalus exclaimed, brushing away more dust.
He’s busy right now, Althalus. Could I take a message?

"Arums are real soldiers, and I want to hire them to train and advise the lowlanders to fight their own wars—at least this one.”
“You’re asking me to put myself out of business, Althalus,” Albron objected.
“Not really. After we’ve smashed Ghend’s armies, things should go back to normal. The princes of the low countries will still break out in rashes of ambition, and they’ll come here to Arum to hire professionals to do their fighting. It’s a matter of economics, Albron. It’s very expensive to train and maintain any army. Even when there’s no war, you have to keep feeding them. It’s cheaper in the long run to hire Arums.”

“I’d pay a premium for this one, your Highness.”
“That one isn’t for sale[.]”
“Everything’s for sale, your Highness,” Althalus replied with a cynical laugh.