Building Strongholds Quotes

“She’d changed her body language so as to take the initiative from him. People were programmed in such a way that they would rarely start talking over you unless they were truly prepared for it. All you really needed to do was look like you were about to speak. She still saw a moment of hesitation in his eyes, but he did allow that line of questioning.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds

“There was something of Juniper to him, a weakness for weakness.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds

“I set the letter down and wiped away my tears. I did wish that she’d told me earlier, not because I needed to know every dark and terrible thing that had ever happened to her, but because I wanted to be the kind of person that she wouldn’t be afraid of telling things. To me none of it reeked of desperation, it was just love, a desire to feel closeness and belonging.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds

“I worry about what you think of me. I worry about it a lot, actually. I fucking love you so much, and I worry that if I say the wrong thing, or you find out the wrong bit of info, then you’re going to stop loving me.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds

“Maybe she’ll always hold a place in my heart. That doesn’t mean that I can’t move on, it just means that there’s some baggage for any new relationship.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds

“You like to race ahead,” said Amaryllis. “And even when your observations are sophomoric, it’s the energy and enthusiasm with which you do it that I find charming.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds

“Babble stones,” I said, after Zona had gone silent. “Hold one in your hand, and anything you say comes out as gibberish to anyone listening. But if someone holds a matching one, your gibberish will be perfectly comprehensible. Not terribly powerful, but there are a few use cases.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds

“You’re too crafty by half.” “And yet still less crafty than the world seems to demand of me,” replied Amaryllis.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds

“I think my compulsion to go with is at least partially grounded in the need to exert control, rather than the actual utility I can provide, and in the interests of not doing things simply for the sake of doing them, I would rather stay here.” She touched the book like it was her lover.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds

“I don’t want to be a plant that you grew from a seed, resting all its weight against your trellis. Not just for fear of what would happen if you were ever gone, though obviously that’s a part of it.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds

“Just once, I would like for things to be easy,” I said, once we were alone. “Have you completely forgotten what Grak said earlier today, about you seeming to think that the world owed you something?” asked Amaryllis, frowning at me. “Sorry, easy was probably the wrong word,” I replied. “I would like for things to be straightforward, so that we only had one logical option instead of eighty options that are spread out in front of us that we have to endlessly go over.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds

“I wanted to be a being of pure, perfect empathy, and instead I had to fake it.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds

“I think it might be about minimal descriptive length.” “MDL, sure,” said Arthur. “For me, a good, compelling idea can be described in very few words, but the effects and results of that short description would have a very, very long MDL,” I said. “Or at least, that’s the starting point for describing what I guess I mean when I say that something can only seem interesting on the surface.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds

“There are some ideas that seem like interesting premises, but actually aren’t.” “Explain that one to me,” he said. “That’s like saying that someone looks beautiful, but actually isn’t, it’s a logical contradiction. I mean, maybe you can say that it’s an illusion or something.” “Yes, right, that’s it exactly,” I said. “It’s an illusion. It’s looking at a pretty girl and then realizing on closer inspection that she’s a mirage.” “Or has a lot of makeup on,” said Arthur. “That’s,” I said, but my objection died on my lips as I realized that we’d probably end up talking about the socio-cultural role of makeup instead of the more interesting thing that I wanted to talk about. “Yeah, I guess. So you have ideas or premises that look interesting, but they actually aren’t once you start in on execution.” “You’re just talking about a deep slash shallow distinction?” asked Arthur.”
― Alexander Wales, Building Strongholds