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“In times of peace, the warlike man attacks himself.” Friedrich Nietzsche
Sometimes,” he murmured, “the only way to improve something is to destroy it, so it can be rebuilt better. Sometimes, to change the world, we must first burn it down.
In the end, no matter what they say, most folk want a path to follow. Someone to tell ’em it’ll all be fine. Someone to tell ’em what to do.
If she told him down was up, he’d laugh at his mistake and stand on his head.”
Might be he was a shit king. But it’s the shit kings need most cheering for.
The thing about killing a man—you could do it in a moment. Bringing him around to your way of thinking took so much patience. And how could you even tell when it was done? Kill a man, he stayed dead. Change his mind, he always had the bloody chance to change it back.
“Coward I may be, Young Lion. But I’m a coward you need.”
“Trust is a poor foundation for an alliance. Almost as poor as friendship.”
“Has it ever occurred to you that the more choice there is, the harder it becomes to choose?”
“It’s ’cause it can all go wrong so easily that you make every effort to be sure it goes right.
“I find reputations rarely fit people all that well. What are they, after all, but costumes we put on to disguise ourselves?”
You can’t get attached to weapons in a battle any more than you can get attached to men.
Years back, when they first made him a sergeant, he’d imagined the officers must have all the answers. When he was given his commission, he’d imagined the generals must have all the answers. When King Orso made him a general, he’d imagined the Closed Council must have all the answers. Now, as a lord marshal, he finally knew it for an absolute fact. No one had the answers. Worse. There weren’t any.
