Written in Fire (Brilliance Saga, #3)

by Marcus Sakey

Even the ones who are doing bad things usually believe they’re heroes, that whatever terrible thing they’re doing is to prevent something worse. They’re scared.”

“It’s kind of a circle. When people are scared, it’s easy for them to decide anything different is evil. To forget that everyone is basically the same, that we all love our families and want regular lives. And what makes it worse is that some people use that. They make others scared on purpose, because they know if they do, everyone will start acting stupid.”

“A smart woman once told me,” his father continued, “that there wouldn’t be a war if people didn’t keep going on television and saying there was. That the problem wasn’t in our differences. It was in our lies.

We know it’s wrong, and we’ve been letting ourselves ignore that. “And there are people who are taking advantage. Extremists on both sides doing it for power. Some think they know better than you. Some are just scared. In the end, it doesn’t matter. The fanatics don’t care about you, and if you let them, they will push us into war for their own benefit.

The only weapon we have against fanatics is the truth, so here it is.”