" Morgause looked up at the old man, her eyes wide in awe.
- Are you so old, Venerable One?
The Merlin smiled down at the girl and said, - Not in my own body. But I have read much in the great hall which is not in this world, there the Record of All Things is written. And also, I was living then. Those who are the Lords of this world permitted me to come back, but in another body of flesh. - "

― Marion Zimmer Bradley , The Mists of Avalon (Avalon, #1)