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March 9 - March 12, 2016
Death was constant, inevitable, and coming. His own, and everybody else’s. Age and maturity meant he was aware of the fact, that was all.
justice and revenge are two names for the same dog.
Etiquette was such a beautiful system of lies. It allowed everyone to pretend when the truth was too ugly to bear. That they all shared in the lie made it at least something that they shared.
“What do kings want more than power?”
“Love,” Cithrin said. “He craves love.”
Likely it was more than they need do, but the way to find that out was to try without and fail. The curious thing about war—about so many things—was the number of critically important things that no one could know.
“I find that unless we are very, very careful there can be a difference between who we are and the stories we tell ourselves about who we are.
Everyone loves peace when they’re losing the battle.”
a smile that looked as if it didn’t get used much
“I don’t know what justice is,” she said. “That’s because it isn’t the sort of thing you discover. It’s a thing you make.” She looked at him, and he shrugged. “There are things you find out in the world. Rocks and streams and trees. And there are things you make. Like a house, or a song. It’s not that houses and songs aren’t real, but you don’t just find them in a field someplace and haul them back home with you. They have to be worked at. Made.”
War was a debt paid with a debt that left both sides poorer. It was always that, and never anything else no matter what the songs and stories claimed.
Only God knew that, and that was the same as saying no one.
Everyone always dies. It’s the price of being born.”
“It isn’t mercy if you deserve it. Mercy justified is only justice.”
“There’s only one utter ending for each of us, and it isn’t one we reach toward. Until then, it’s the next change, and the next change, and the next.
As far as I can tell, life’s just one flaming piece of shit after another, except when it’s a bunch of them all at once.
