The Wall of Storms (The Dandelion Dynasty, #2)

by Ken Liu

“The world may not be fair, but we must strive to make it so.”

History is the long shadow cast by the past upon the future. Shadows, by nature, lack details.

Never underestimate the power of the need to appear better than their peers to motivate people,

“Great lords—whether mortal or immortal—do what they do because their concerns are not ours. We suffer because we are the grass upon which giants tread.”

“True courage is to insist on seeing when all around you is darkness.”

patriotism, like white rice, was a luxury of the well-to-do.

“Talent is like a pretty feather in the tail of a peacock, daughter. It brings joy to the powerful but only sorrow to the bird.”

“It’s hardly an easy thing to be ‘favored’ by the powerful,”

Knowledge is a vehicle that progresses through errors and blind alleys. It is the nature of history that the ruts left by earlier events persist down the centuries.

“ ‘Talent’ is a loaded word,” said Zomi. “Is it truly talent that the examination measures or mere habits of mind?”

Sometimes you must do the right thing even if it hurts you. Actions reify ideals. We must never stop striving to do good, to protect the weak and the powerless. This is the charge to all men of learning.”

The Ano word for “teacher” literally meant “father-of-the-mind,” and what was love but an exchange of hearts?

“We never have been of one mind,” said Kuni. “Oh, do not mistake me. The love between us has not faded, but to love someone does not mean giving up your own will.

Let old heroes fade into story and song; the world will be remade by new heroes.

On the other hand, the women of history are defined by the men they loved. We never hear anything about Lady Mira except that she killed herself out of love for the Hegemon—Fara,

“The proudest moment in a teacher’s life,” said Ruthi, “is when he learns something new from his student.”

It’s better to have one true friend who can understand the voice in your heart when you pluck out a hesitant tune on the zither than to have the unthinking adoration of millions.”

If you do not like the stories you’ve been told, fill your heart with new stories. If you do not like the script you’ve been given, design for yourself new roles.”

A real friend is a mirror that reflects the truth back to us.”

“I started my life as a butcher, and I don’t want my son to forget it. Where we start is important, you know?” Gin turned somber. “Have you ever wished you could have stayed a butcher instead of . . . this life?” Mün shook his head. “Never. Why would a kite wish to stay on the ground instead of shooting for the sky?” “Even if a storm is coming?”

After a man had been drenched by one wave of grief, sometimes he was numb to far greater waves.

Taki had two chests and no gold; He went into Tazu’s wet hold. “Give me a large share of treasure, Lest I piss and wreck your pleasure.”

What courage it took for the starving and the poor to continue the mere act of existence, of survival, of endurance. Such quiet acts of heroism were not celebrated, and yet they made up the foundation of civilization, far more than all the honorable sentiments of the Ano sages and the pretty words of the nobles.

Even if there is nothing but the endless ocean out there, it’s better to die sailing my own course.

“Do not blame your failure on the All-Father, just as I do not attribute my success to Him. It is only the weak who think that the gods care about the affairs of men; the strong know that they make their own path in this world, and the gods always favor those who triumph.”

“When my father sent me to you so that my life could guarantee his safety, where was the All-Father? When I spilled the blood of your son to save my life, where was the All-Father? When I committed patricide to seize the reins of power, where was the All-Father? Every winter, hundreds of men and women die because of lack of food or shelter; where are the All-Father and His son, the Merciful Toryoana of Healing Hands? Every summer, families starve as their cattle fail to make it across the parched landscape to the next watering hole; where are the All-Father and His daughter, Aluro of a Thousand Streams? In battle, both your warriors and mine invoke the names of the All-Father and Diasa, His club-maiden, to aid their cause; who do you think they listen to?”

“The All-Father, the Every-Mother, and their children do not care, no more than you or I care about the fate of the ants when we dig into their nests for a meal of mushrooms. I can only conclude that there is no good or evil in the eyes of the gods. All that they care about is success or failure. If I am mighty, I am good. If I am weak, I am evil. That is all.”

Sentiment makes us fools, and yet, without sentiment, we would be little better than dumb instruments wielded by the gods in their incomprehensible games.

“The rightness and wrongness of things must be looked at from many perspectives. If you had not helped us, more grandfathers and grandmothers would have died in winters on the scrublands and many more children would remain unborn.” “Tyrants could justify anything with what-ifs.”

“You should have invited me.” Oga Kidosu stepped into view. He was carrying two swords of Dara, kept by the thane he served as trophies. Luan was startled. “Don’t you want to see Zomi and Aki?” He accepted one of the swords from Oga and dropped the dung shovel. “It’s the duty of fathers to fight wars so that their children don’t have to.” Luan smiled. “All right then, friend. Let’s make this count.” The Lyucu guards came at them through the darkness, and they ululated and stabbed into the unknown.

“It isn’t the achievement of victory that makes a leader noble, but the willingness to fight for what is right in her heart even when defeat is certain. Fithowéo is the god of not just victors, but also those who fall for a just cause. Insist on seeing, even when all around you is darkness. “All the Ano sages wrote about the unpredictability of life, and they agreed that there is nothing free of doubt in this life except the fact that we will all die. But death can come in many forms: Some are heavier than Mount Fithowéo, and some are more inconsequential than a feather in the wind. It is not your place to deny the right of each man and woman to choose how they wish to achieve that death.” “If even the gods of Dara have not shown any signs that they favor our cause, how can I know that this is the right path?” Gin asked. “I was not born with double-pupiled eyes, knowing that I was destined for greatness. I did not slaughter a great white python in the mountains and have rainbows point the way for my wife.” “There are no born heroes, and legends are just stories. Gin, you know that truth as well as I. But the world sometimes demands a man or a woman to step forward to embody the will of the many, and thus are legends and heroes born. True courage comes not from being certain and unafraid, but from doing what must be done even while being terrified and full of doubts.”

Shame is a lie told to you by those who would enslave you rather than free you.”

“Sometimes the weak need help to be strong, to do what they should do.”

“Just because we’ll be apart doesn’t mean that our love ends. You and I will both have many other loves, many grand romances and devotions and enlargements of the soul. But this is our first, and it will always be special. No matter how much time passes or how far apart we are, our love will remain true. We’re dyrans streaking past each other in the vast deep, but our shared lightning-flash will illuminate the darkness ahead until we are embraced by the eternal storm.”

None of us is born knowing how to wear a mask; we grow into them.”