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I kept going there anyway because knowledge is always useful,
Any of the children back at the orphanage could have explained that a Septimus has eight Octavii ceding half their Will to them, a Sextus has seven Septimii ceding half of their collected Will, and so on up the pyramid through Quintus, Quartus, Tertius, Dimidius, and finally, Princeps.
STRONGER TOGETHER. It’s the great lie of the Hierarchy, proclaimed generation after generation by an ever-growing mob in thrall to the concept.
“Or should we not hold others to the standards to which we hold ourselves? Anyone who does not resist them, Diago, is lending them their strength. Is complicit in all that they do.
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.
You fight the tyranny of the many, or you are one of them.”
“Silence is a statement, Diago. Inaction picks a side. And when those lead to personal benefit, they are complicity.”
“A man will always wonder what might have been, but a wise one recognises fortune when it comes. For all I left behind, life has not been unkind to me.”
“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.”
“Whether the obstacles to our advancement arise from our ties or our actions, we need to learn to overcome them ourselves. It’s not fair, but nor is the world.”
A fair system only works if there’s an unbiased means of assessing merit. When there is no pride or selfishness involved.”
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.”
“That’s the problem with people, though, isn’t it? They always think that other people are the problem.”
