The line of logic trailed off in confusion; he turned his thoughts impatiently from it. Mental wheel-spinning, as unproductive as philosophy class in… - Lois McMaster Bujold

“You must learn to kill if you expect to survive.”
“No you don’t," Miles put in. "Most people go through their whole lives without killing anybody. False argument.”

There is this, about being the sparring partner of the best swordsman in Caribastos. I always lost. But if ever I meet the third best swordsman in Caribastos, he’s going to be in very deep trouble.

“Don’t be afraid,” she said. “The dead cannot hurt you. They give you no pain, except that of seeing your own death in their faces. And one can face that, I find.”
Yes, he thought, the good face pain. But the great—they embrace it.