"Any change in routine was terrifying, even if it involved less violence rather than more."

"Talent alone is not enough. In the end, Guardian, it is desire that creates a master vintner, makes him into a Vinear…"

"The Sin Washer had died centuries ago, and His legacy seemed often to be in the accumulation of connections and power…"

"Power calls to those who are hungry for power, and there are hungry idiots everywhere."

"He checked, of course. Being sure and being willing to risk that surety against his future were not the same thing."

"Everything else was in the past, and the past no longer mattered."

"That is the danger of an idea, Jerzy. Once planted, you cannot control where the roots may go."

"He is not bound so tightly by tradition that he will refuse a good idea simply for it being new, and not so wild that…"

"The painful truth is that while we might have the illusion, none of us are free."

"And still, the more he learned, the more he became aware that he did not know."