Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear

"I can't give you the moon,” the tinker said. “She doesn't belong to me. She belongs only to herself."

"When you love something, you have to make sure it loves you back, or you'll bring about no end of trouble chasing it."

"I thought of all the others who had tried to tie her to the ground and failed. So I resisted showing her the songs and poems I had written, knowing that too much truth can ruin a thing. And if that meant she wasn't entirely mine, what of it? I would be the one she could always return to without fear of recrimination or question. So I did not try to win her and contented myself with playing a beautiful game. But there was always a part of me that hoped for more, and so there was a part of me that was always a fool."

"Why would I want to win anything other than a beautiful game?"

"Wrong things never lead to success. If a man acts wrongly and succeeds, that is not the way. Without the Lethani there is no true success."

"So yes. It had flaws, but what does that matter when it comes to matters of the heart? We love what we love. Reason does not enter into it."

"What is word for good together living? Nobody shits in the well"I laughed. "Civilization"He nodded, splaying his fingers: amusement. "Yes," he said. "Speaking with hands is civilization."But smiling is natural," I protested. "Everyone smiles."Natural is not civilization," Tempi said. "Cooking meat is civilization. Washing off stink is civilization."So in Ademre you always smile with hands" I wished I knew the gesture for dismay."No. Smiling with face good with family. Good with some friend."Why only family"Tempi repeated his thumb-on-collarbone gesture again. "When you make this." He pressed his palm to the side of his face and blew air into it, making a great flatulent noise. "That is natural, but you do not make it near others. Rude. With family..." He shrugged. Amusement. "...civilization not important. More natural with family."

"Why wasn't I already kissing this woman? Why wasn't I naked, eating violets, and playing music underneath the open sky?Looking around the room again, everything seemed terribly ridiculous. These people sitting on their benches wearing layers on layers of clothing, eating with knives and forks. It all struck me as so pointless and contrived. It was incredibly funny. It was like they were playing a game and didn't even realize it. It was like a joke I'd never understood before."

"My alar is like the ocean in storm. (Devi)"

"Wilem: 'What is the word for that here? A man who is intimate with both women and men''Lucky' Denna suggested. 'Tired? Ambidextrous''Ambisextrous,' I corrected."

"But laugh" He pressed the flat of his hand against my stomach. "Here lives laugh." He ran his finger straight up to my mouth and spread his fingers. "Push back laugh is not good. Not healthy."Also cry" I asked. I traced an imaginary tear down my cheek with one finger."Also cry." He put his hand on his own belly. "Ha ha ha," he said, pressing his hand to show me the motion of his stomach. Then his expression changed to sad. "Huh huh huh," he heaved with exaggerated sobs, pressing his stomach again. "Same place. Not healthy to push down."

"Asleep she was a painting of a fire. Awake she was the fire itself"

"Bast looked at him incredulously."The whole world is burning down,"he said."Open your eyes."

"My bad luck got tangled up with my bad decisions, and I'm paying for it."

"over his own dark Cealdish beard. “Nothing like your marvelous facebear,"

"He hesitated, then lifted his head and sniffed. “Have you been drinking?” The question was more curious than accusatory. “No,” Bast said. The innkeeper raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been tasting,” Bast said, emphasizing the word. “Tasting comes before drinking."

"Death was like an unpleasant neighbor. You didn’t talk about him for fear he might hear you and decide to pay a visit."

"I’d heard he had started a fistfight in one of the seedier local taverns because someone had insisted on saying the word “utilize” instead of “use."

"I do this so you cannot help but hear. a wise man views a moonless night with fear."

"There is something deeply satisfying in shaping something with your hands. Proper artificing is like a song made solid. It is an act of creation."