Last Argument of Kings (The First Law Trilogy Book 3)

It can be a fearsome weapon, patience. One that few men ever learn to use.

“You can trust us.” “Trust us…” Trust? A word that only liars used.

Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he’s a cunt. Simple as that.

It can be a terrible curse for a man to get everything he ever dreamed of. If the shining prizes turn out somehow to be empty baubles, he is left without even his dreams for comfort.

People would far rather be handed an easy lie than search for a difficult truth, especially if it suits their own purposes.

The First of the Magi spoke the words as though they were lines long rehearsed. “Kanedias came to take me. For seducing his daughter. For stealing his secrets. Juvens would not give me up. They fought, I fled. The fury of their battle lit the skies. When I returned, the Maker was gone, and our master was dead. I did not kill Juvens.”

Probably there was heroism going on down there in the smoke. Soldiers hauling injured comrades to safety through the sooty darkness. Nurses stitching wounds by screaming candlelight. Townsfolk plunging into burning buildings to drag out coughing children. Heroism of an everyday and unglamorous kind. A kind that made no difference to the overall out

His eyes slid sideways to the streets. Different-coloured eyes, Jezal noticed, one blue, one green.

anyone in a position of high authority ever really knew what they were doing. The best one could hope for was to maintain some shred of an illusion that one might. And occasionally, perhaps, try to give the mindless flood of events the slightest push in one direction or another, hoping desperately that it would turn out to be the right one.