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CHAIN YOUR ANGER IN THE dark, my mother used to tell me, and it will only thrive.
Interesting. Matias, one of my tutors at Suus, used to theorise that the dynamics of power between the senatorial pyramids would change drastically once there was no one left to conquer. Perhaps even become antagonistic.
Hope for the latter but plan for the former,
“A PYRAMID’S STRENGTH IS IN ITS FOUNDATION, NOT ITS PEAK.
The power to protect is the highest of responsibilities, Diago. When a man is given it, his duty is not only to the people he thinks are worthy.
“Silence is a statement, Diago. Inaction picks a side. And when those lead to personal benefit, they are complicity.”
“There comes a point in every man’s life where he can rail against the unfairness of the world until he loses, or he can do his best in it. Remain a victim, or become a survivor.”
“Nervousness means there’s a fear to be faced ahead, Diago. The man who is never nervous, never does anything hard. The man who is never nervous, never grows.”
Always told me that a hard truth was better than a comforting fiction. That there was no such thing as a harmless lie, and that the liar lost a part of himself in the act.
There are those who see what should be, and complain that they do not get their due. And then there are those who see what is, and figure out how to use it to their advantage. Or at the least, overcome it.”
“You want to remove the Princeps? The senators? You’ll just become them, sooner or later. If all you’re trying to do is change who’s in control, then you don’t really want to change anything.”
“You cannot be free if you are afraid to die.”
“Expectations can be a terrible thing.”
There’s no joy in this success, no sense of accomplishment. I just did what I had to.
“They ask something small of you. A thing you would prefer not to do, but is not so terrible. You think you are working your way up, but in fact they are changing you. Moulding you into what they think you should be, one compromise at a time.”
The decision may have been made by the few, Diago, but it’s the Will of the many that killed your family.”
“Violence is no answer to grief,”
“And this is the risk of our world, Diago. The flaw of our system is in its head. In us. The qualities of a king change the kingdom. And not one of us is perfect enough to have a right to lead.”
It is not the strong who benefit in their system, no matter what they say—it is the weak. It is the ones willing to do anything, sacrifice anything, to rise. It rewards avarice and is so steeped in a wrong way of thinking that those within it cannot even see it.”
Caten rewards greed above all. So this, out here, is about seeing who will do whatever it takes. Who will do whatever they can get away with to win.”
It’s a tree. Borius just threw a tree at me.
“Death is only meaningless if it does not change us, Vis.”
