Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga, #4)

by Pierce Brown

Because when the law is not obeyed, the ground is fertile for tyrants.”

It’s my duty as a free man to read so I’m not blind, being led around by my nose.”

For those who dine with war and empire, the bill always comes at the end.

You know, Eph, it is humanly possible to enjoy something different. Something new.” “ ‘New’ generally means someone’s just trying to make money off something old.”

I often imagine what humans could do if there were no scarcity. Nothing to fight over. Just an unending expanse to explore and name and fill with life and art. I smile at the pleasant fiction. A man can dream.

“Do not let fear touch you. Fear is the torrent. The raging river. To fight it is to break and drown. But to stand astride it is to see it, feel it, and use its course for your own whims.”

“I know it may be impossible to believe now, when everything is dark and broken, but you will survive this pain, little one. Pain is a memory. You will live and you will struggle and you will find joy. And you will remember your family from this breath to your dying days, because love does not fade. Love is the stars, and its light carries on long after death.”

“I didn’t have anything in my pockets. Did you put the candy in there?” He turns to me with a mischevious smile. “Sometimes, little one, it’s best if the worlds think you a little mad.” He winks. “Inspiring what they’ll let you get away with.”

My grandmother once told me, “A new wound can take a body. Opening an old one can claim a soul.”

The key to learning, to power, to having the final say in everything, is observation. By all means, be a storm inside, but save your movement and wind till you know your purpose.

“Ah,” he says quietly. “I suppose that is what every man must tell himself in war.” His voice rasps and he sucks again on the water tube. “That there will be an end, and when it is done, enough of himself will remain. Enough to be a father. A brother. A lover. But we know it isn’t true. Don’t we, Darrow? War eats the victors last.”