“I don’t wonder why they talk,” I said. “I wonder what they say.”

“It’s the questions we can’t answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he’ll look for his own answers.”

If you want to know the truth of who you are, walk until not a person knows your name.

there are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”

It’s like Teccam said, nothing in the world is harder than convincing someone of an unfamiliar truth.

The other feeling is what you were brought up to think. It is like an old shirt that no longer fits you. And now, when you look at it closely, you can see it was ugly to begin with.”

“What makes this a good place?” He looked out over the water for a long time before he answered. “It is an edge,” he said at last. “It is a high place with a chance of falling. Things are more easily seen from edges. Danger rouses the sleeping mind. It makes some things clear. Seeing things is a part of being a namer.”

“The point,” Bredon said grandly, “is to play a beautiful game.” He lifted his hands and shrugged, his face breaking into a beatific smile. “Why would I want to win anything other than a beautiful game?”

“I am a listener,” the old man said. “I listen to things to see what they have to say.” “Ah,” Jax said carefully. “And this is a good place for that?” “Quite good. Quite excellent good,” the old man said. “You need to get a long ways away from people before you can learn to listen properly.”