The only sovereign I can allow to rule me is reason. The first law of reason is this: what exists exists; what is is. From this irreducible, bedrock principle, all knowledge is built. This is the foundation from which life is embraced. Reason is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts, nor are they a means to discovering them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality—it is our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss we refuse to see.

Terry Goodkind (born in 1948) is an American writer and author of the epic fantasy The Sword of Truth series as well as the contemporary suspense novel The Law of Nines which has ties to his fantasy series and The Omen Machine which is a direct sequel thereof. Before his success as an author Goodkind worked primarily as a painter as well as doing carpentry and woodworking.

It was adapted into a television series called Legend of the Seeker; it premiered on November 1 2008 and ran for two seasons ending in May 2010. The Sword of Truth series sold twenty-five million copies worldwide and was translated into more than twenty languages. Before his success as an author Goodkind worked primarily as a painter as well as doing carpentry and woodworking.