Death Masks (The Dresden Files, #5)

by Jim Butcher

Hell’s bells. Dedicated, honorable, courageous, self-sacrificial loonies are absolutely the worst people in the world to go up against.

“Because it must be done,” he answered without hesitation. “For the good of the people, some must place themselves in harm’s way. Some must pledge their courage and their lives to protect the community.”

“Man sees faces. Sees skin. Flags. Membership lists. Files.” He took another large bite, ate it, and said, “God sees hearts.”

The blood on their hands does not make it right to bloody my own. My choices are measured against my own soul. Not against the stains on theirs.”

“Apocalypse is a frame of mind,” he said then. “A belief. A surrender to inevitability. It is despair for the future. It is the death of hope.”

It isn’t good to hold on too hard to the past. You can’t spend your whole life looking back. Not even when you can’t see what lies ahead. All you can do is keep on keeping on, and try to believe that tomorrow will be what it should be—even if it isn’t what you expected.