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November 10, 2021 - January 11, 2022
The only antidote for the corrosive poison of violence is finding peace within yourself. It’s a difficult cure to obtain, but well worth the effort.”
“Slow, regular breathing, as if you were meditating. It is one of the most effective methods for calming yourself.”
“but you do not seem that close to anyone. Where you walk, you walk alone, even among your own people.”
When I saw Fäolin fall, I understood then that the true agony of war isn’t being wounded yourself, it’s having to watch those you care about being hurt.
He may have been sharp as vinegar and as hard and dry as a winter rutabaga, but he raised the two of you well.
Books should go where they will be most appreciated, and not sit unread, gathering dust on a forgotten shelf, don’t you agree?”
“Finding the right sword for someone is an art unto itself. A sword should feel like an extension of your arm, as if it had grown out of your very flesh. You shouldn’t have to think about how you want it to move; you should simply move it as instinctively as an egret his beak or a dragon her claws. The perfect sword is intent incarnate: what you want, so it does.”
“Ah, pay no heed if your enemies laugh. They’ll not be able to once you lop off their heads.”
There is no more exciting sport than flying, for if you lose, you die.
“It’s never enjoyable watching someone shame themselves.”
I can’t help it. I have wool stuck between my teeth. Now I remember why I hate eating sheep. Horrible, fluffy things that give me hair balls and indigestion.
“Love can be a terrible curse, Eragon. It can make you overlook even the largest flaws in a person’s behavior.
It depends upon how you choose to view the world. The words of fortunetellers are rarely easy to decipher. It has been my experience that their predictions are never conducive to peace of mind. If you wish to be happy, Eragon, think not of what is to come nor of that which you have no control over but rather of the now and of that which you are able to change.”
“Ever the sun traces its path from horizon to horizon, and ever the moon follows, and ever the days roll past without care for the lives they grind away, one by one.”
Whatever you do, protect those you care for. Without them, life is more miserable than you can imagine.
The way to defeat another magician is not by battering blindly against his mind.
Do not become so attached to any one belief that you cannot see past it to another possibility.
“I cannot pretend that I regard this with favor, but the purpose of life is not to do what we want but what needs to be done. This is what fate demands of us.”
‘Anger is a poison. You must purge it from your mind or else it will corrupt your better nature.’
Anger has its place, but it will not help you here. The way of the warrior is the way of knowing. If that knowledge requires you to use anger, then you use anger, but you cannot wrest forth knowledge by losing your temper. Pain and frustration will be your only reward if you try. Instead, you must strive to be calm, even if a hundred ravening enemies are snapping at your heels. Empty your mind and allow it to become like a tranquil pool that reflects everything around it and yet remains untouched by its surroundings. Understanding will come to you in that emptiness, when you are free of
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Timing is everything in battle. You must pay close attention to the patterns and rhythms of your opponents’ bodies: where they are strong, where they are weak, where stiff and where flexible. Match those rhythms when it serves your purpose and confuse them when it does not, and you will be able to shape the flow of the battle as it pleases you.
You are still too angry, and your mind is still too cluttered. Keep hold of the things you need to remember, but don’t let them distract you from what is happening. Find a place of calm within yourself, and let the concerns of the world wash over you without sweeping you away with them.
“Who would compare themselves to chopped liver in the first place? If you have to choose an organ, why not pick a gallbladder or a thymus gland instead? Much more interesting than a liver.
Strange things lurk in dark places,
“The sky is hollow and the world is round.”
If only everyone could see what we have seen, perhaps there would be less fighting in the world. You cannot expect wolves to become sheep. No, but neither do the wolves have to be cruel to the sheep.
No. I used to growl and bite and knock down trees and tear up the ground. Once, I broke the top off of a mountain in the Spine; the other dragons were rather upset with me for that. But I have had many years to learn that losing my temper rarely helps. You have not, I know, but allow my experience to guide you in this. Let go of your worries and focus only on the task at hand. The future will be what it will, and fretting about it will only make your fears more likely to come true.
“When you teach them—teach them not to fear. Fear is good in small amounts, but when it is a constant, pounding companion, it cuts away at who you are and makes it hard to do what you know is right.”
Yours has always been a hard path, since each of you hatched. But today you showed that your misfortunes have not broken you.
Leave the dead to the earth. They are not for us.
If I am to avoid becoming what I hate, then I have to leave.”
