The Hod King (The Books of Babel, #3)

by Josiah Bancroft

“All I know is that, at the end of the day, dreams don’t matter, but neither does regret. We aren’t what we want or wish for. We are only what we do.”

there’s nothing that threatens a bully’s delicate virility so much as the honest passions of other men. This world is full of tyrants, full of men who can’t raise themselves up by their own pursuits, and so they spend their lives pulling others down to their low and loathsome level.

Smiles are like candlelight. They can warm and cheer the bleakest room. But we would be wise not to forget: Even the brightest candle hides a blackened wick.

‘Asking nicely once is polite. Asking nicely twice is just begging.’”