The Trouble With Peace (The Age of Madness, #2)

by Joe Abercrombie

‘You’ve got to blow with the wind. Let go of the past. Dwelling on your mistakes does no one any good.’

‘If all we do is stick to what we know, how can we make progress?’

People like things that are simple. Black and white. Good and evil. They want to make a choice and tell themselves they were right. But as His Eminence is fond of saying, the real world is painted in greys. The truth is complicated, full of mixed emotions and blurred outcomes and each-way bets. The truth … is a hard sell.’

Rikke had sworn an oath not to worry about the things she couldn’t change, and she took an oath very seriously.

Caurib looked down at her feet, hidden in the lake. ‘Fear is like cold water. A little is a fine thing, it fixes you on what counts. But too much will freeze you. You must make a box inside your mind, and put your fear inside, and lock it.’

‘Nothing is ever fixed. From the moment it is born, from the moment it is built, everything is always dying, decaying, drifting into chaos.’

‘Act as if everything is going exactly according to your plans. As if you are the most confident person in the world. As if you never had a doubt in your life.’

‘Has it ever occurred to you that the more choice there is, the harder it becomes to choose?’ ‘It has been mentioned. But fear is a poor reason to limit your options.’