Christopher Paolini

"It never struck me as interesting that I didn't go to school — we had our own little world. I always thought of kids who were going to regular school as if they're the others, the separate ones."

"To search and seek among the outer bounds, And when we land upon a distant shore, To seek another yet farther still."

"The songs of the dead are the lamentations of the living."

"When you can have anything you want by uttering a few words, the goal matters not, only the journey to it."

"No-one can function properly without occasional peace and quiet."

"So tell me, is it true that men have ten toes, as is said?"

"Live in the present, remember the past, and fear not the future, for it doesn't exist and never shall. There is only now."

"Shall we dance, friend of my heart?"

"Applied properly, it [logic] can overcome any lack of wisdom, which one only gains through age and experience."

"Those whom we love are often the most alien to us."

"Characters are born from necessity."

"My father's work will not go unfinished, even if it takes me to the grave. That is what I want you, as a rider, to understand. All of Ajihad's plans, all his strategies and goals, they are mine now. I will not fail him by being weak. The empire will be brought down, Galbatorix will with dethroned, and the rightful government will be raised."

"It seems a cold world without something … more." "On the contrary," said Oromis, "it is a better world . A place where we are responsible for our own actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment. I won't tell you what to believe, Eragon. It is far better to be taught to think critically and then be allowed to make your own decisions than to have someone else's notions thrust upon you. You asked after our religion, and I have answered you true. Make of it what you will."

"Well, I suppose I won't see you for a while. So farewell, good luck, avoid roasted cabbage, don't eat ear wax, and look on the bright side of life!"

"You must learn to see what you are looking at."

"‘You cheated.’ ‘No, I exploited a weakness in my opponent. There is a difference.’"

"‘I don’t know how else to teach you what you need to learn except by showing you your mistakes over and over again until you stop making them.’"

"‘It’s impossible to go through life unscathed. Nor should you want to. By the hurts we accumulate, we measure both our follies and our accomplishments.’"

"Death, he had come to believe, was a corrosive thing, and the more he was around it, the more it gnawed away at who he was."

"‘You of all people should know that everything in this world must be paid for, whether in gold, time, or blood.’"

"“I am the victor. In the end nothing else matters.’"

"‘I cannot forgive, but I understand.’"

"‘I am not who I was, but I know who I am.’"

"‘Then I guess we have no choice but to go forward. When have we ever had any choice but to go forward?’"

"Better to die than to live in fear."

"War was a catalog of madness."

"Change is neither good nor bad, but knowledge is always useful."

"‘I am not ready. But when will we ever be ready?’"

"‘Fight if you wish. Deny what is before you if it comforts you. But nothing you do can change your fate.’"

"‘When you teach them—teach them not to fear. Fear is good in small amounts, but when it is a constant, pounding companion, it cuts away at who you are and makes it hard to do what is right.’"