Classical music is this music that was written by a bunch of dead people a long time ago.
There is no place for innocence on the battlefield.
There is nothing more painful than the untimely death of someone young and dear to the heart. The harrowing grief surges from a bottomless well of sorrow, drowning the mourner in a torrent of agonizing pain; an exquisite pain that continues to afflict the mourner with heartache and loneliness long after the deceased is buried and gone.
It is the dirt within men’s hearts that is most offensive; the filth you cannot see.
Darkness gives free rein to the mind's worst imaginings.
True kindness ennobles the giver
Blood was the mortar that cemented the kingdom
A money-lender--he serves you in the present tense; he lends you in the conditional mood; keeps you in the conjunctive; and ruins you in the future.
I take things like honor and loyalty seriously. It's more important to me than any materialistic thing or any fame I could have.
Most of our ancestors were not perfect ladies and gentlemen. The majority of them weren't even mammals.
From the beginning [of the Lincoln in the Bardo], I actually had it in mind not to write a novel. I'd kind of gotten past that point where I felt bad for never having written a novel, even to where I felt really good about it, like I was a real purist.