The Strength of the Few Quotes

“Grief, my mother once told me, is love’s most honest expression. The last and hardest aspect of truly, truly caring for someone. She said it at her own mother’s funeral rites, tears in her eyes even as she tried to comfort a boy too young to understand why he was so sad, why his grandmother couldn’t be there anymore. She explained through choking sobs that without grief, love would be meaningless. Because it is impossible to truly love something that cannot be lost.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“The needs of the many will always be loud.” He leans forward. Hooked nose inches from mine. “But in the end, it is only the strength of the few that matters.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“A society cannot make a man a monster, Diago. But it can give him the excuse to become one.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“The oldest argument for doing something wrong is that everyone is doing it. To dismantle what they have built would have required the agreement of every man who had spent his life building it," agrees my father softly. "It would have required them to give up all they have striven their entire lives to gain. And they would have needed to do it, largely, for the benefit of those at whose expense it originally came.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“...without grief, love would be meaningless. Because it is impossible to truly love something that cannot be lost.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“Rule a man, and he will do whatever you can imagine. Befriend him, and he will do more.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“Grief, my mother once told me, is love’s most honest expression.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“Poor luck is being aware of these currents, but able only to drown in them”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“FEAR, MY FATHER ONCE TOLD me, is simply our realisation of a lack of control. And that is why when we are afraid, sometimes the only way we can cope—the only way to dull the edge of that lack—is to put our faith in those who appear not to suffer it.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“A father is a man who loves you, no matter what. Not all of us can have one.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“Know your line." It is a good advice for a son. For a man, even. But for a father? To protect our sons, there is no line we will not cross.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“When you have lived your whole life within the greatest empire of your time, it is hard to believe it will end.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“DEATH, EIDHIN ONCE INSISTED WHILE explaining the ddram cyfraith, is our most important horizon. It matters because we need an end to what we can see. Without it we would drift, overwhelmed, nothing to orient ourselves against. Without it, we would never be able to focus on what is truly important: that which is in front of us.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“I AM the godsdamn crocodile.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“I give a soft, frustrated laugh. “Gods’ graves. Fair enough. One day I’ll find something that bothers you, though.” “One of my teachers back home once told me that sometimes, the only thing we can control is our attitude.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“Instead of the easy gift of our lives, we must suffer the hundred little deaths of self in order to protect this world. Not because what we do is good, but because good will no longer exist if we do not.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“A pain promised is often worse than pain itself.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“The power to protect is the highest responsibility.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“It is unpleasant, but this is the world you and I live in, now. Men must be bought or compelled, rather than relied upon to do the right thing.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“He's a good man. Trying to be better. Trying to come to terms with the fact that he lived his entire life believing a lie.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“We do not stop learning when we get older,” he eventually tells me. “ ‘Know your line.’ It is good advice for a son. For a man, even. But for a father?” He leans forward. “To protect our sons, Catenicus, there is no line we will not cross.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“What justification could a person possibly give themselves before handing over their very Will to the nebulous control of the Republic? Everyone over there must be facile. Blind. Cowards. Probably all three.
We knew the truth, of course. Had been subjected to a hundred lectures dissecting why people submitted to the Hierarchy. Fear, naturally, played its part—but not always. Sometimes it was greed loosely masquerading as ambition. Sometimes it was misplaced faith that others would behave fairly and rightly. Or social pressure, the inevitable belief that the majority cannot be wrong. The reasons were complex and many-faceted and unavoidably varied from person to person. But we never mentioned those during our childish vents as we watched the sun set over the domain of our enemy. Easier to despise than understand. Easier to mock than empathise.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“I don't like it either but when power is so entrenched, so impossibly distant, blood becomes the only possible currency of change.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“Grief never really leaves you”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“philosophers once argued that the concept of home is”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“A MAN WHO IS CHASED may be free. A man who chases never is.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“Ulciscor may not be the one that you want. But fathers rarely are.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“I forgive you. I do. But... some mistakes can't be undone.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“The process still makes me sick to my stomach”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“Easier to despise than understand. Easier to mock than empathise.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few