The Wall of Storms (The Dandelion Dynasty Book 2)

by Ken Liu

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

Crowds were delicate things. Sometimes all it took was a single example for a loose flock of sheep to turn into a wolfish mob.

Three days was in fact much too long for one essay, and an examinee’s worst enemy was self-doubt.

She strained to make sense of the world, but the world was shrouded in a veil that could not be pierced.

memory was a lump of wax that was reshaped by the knife of consciousness with each recollection,

Don’t you know that nothing good ever comes from bothering the gods when they don’t wish to be bothered?”

‘A Moralist is someone who can tell you how everyone ought to behave except himself.’ ”

Actions reify ideals. We must never stop striving to do good, to protect the weak and the powerless.

“When you try something repeatedly and it doesn’t work, continuing along the same path would be madness.”

When you think well of someone, all their actions appear to you in a kinder light.

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.

“We lose much as we grow up, but we also gain much. To get to where we are hasn’t been easy.”

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

“Leaders who believe everything can be predicted and directed are most at risk of greatly harming those who depend on them,