King of Ashes Quotes

“Sometimes the man wearing the crown ain’t the man that’s supposed to be the king.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“Power without empathy leads to ruin,”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“Money is like acid. It burns through everything. Friendships, family, lovers, husbands and wives. Whatever bond you think you have, money will make that shit dissolve.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“So grown people can just be hoes and nobody supposed to say nothing?” Roman says, and instantly realizes he has entered an undiscovered country. A land of fallen idols and deposed emperors. A realm that each child must one day traverse. A journey that takes you from seeing your parents as infallible to recognizing them as all too human. For most, that journey ends with a wistful kind of acceptance. We love our parents not because they are perfect but because they persevere despite their imperfections. We all fall short of grace, but the beauty lives in the attempt.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“A king without a queen or pawns is just a piece of wood sitting on a board, Roman thought.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“Children should be protected from the lives of adults. Especially from the private lives of their parents. Children should be allowed to exist in a state of constant unawareness when it comes to what their parents do inside or outside the bonds of marriage. That sacred covenant is between God and man, but Mother and Father are gods in a way, and they have a sacred covenant with their children. To keep them safe, to do no harm, and to allow them to be children as long as they can.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“Whatever bond you think you have, money will make that shit dissolve.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“I used to be afraid the universe was evil. Now I almost wish it was. Because evil can be bargained with, evil has a purpose, no matter how horrible it may be. But what I’ve come to realize is the universe is indifferent, and that is so much more terrifying,”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“beginning to think the only difference between a tragedy and an opportunity was how much what was lost mattered.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“There's a thousand ways to die, he thought, but sometimes all it takes is one thing to make you want to live. Like your brother remembering what you like on your pizza.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders. —WILLIAM FAULKNER”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“Money is like acid. It burns through everything. Friendships”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“He thought about his father’s favorite saying and how his father was wrong. Not everything burns. Some things end up in the gutter where they belong.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“Neveah thought it was funny how their father never missed a call, but he had missed his own life passing him by. And he had given her the same kind of myopia, it seemed.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“A land of fallen idols and deposed emperors. A realm that each child must one day traverse. A journey that takes you from seeing your parents as infallible to recognizing them as all too human. For most, that journey ends with a wistful kind of acceptance. We love our parents not because they are perfect but because they perservere despite their imperfections. We all fall short of grace, but the beauty lives in the attempt.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“Khalil’s also made people disappear, he thought. He’s killed at least four people in what the police were advised to call self-defense.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“But she was doing something bad, she wasn't actually a bad person. There was a difference, no matter how minute.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“Roman had enough self-awareness to recognize that type of intimacy lacked emotional depth. It satisfied his desires but didn’t really touch his heart.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“You like a little pain?” Jae asked. Roman had leaned back and gazed at her. The question was somewhat ironic except she didn’t know it yet. He liked the pain, craved it, needed its cleansing power. Yet he was always loath to confess that to a real lover. It was a level of intimacy he rarely approached with someone who wasn’t a professional.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“His mother tries to pull away from him. She is shouting, cursing, but Roman is giving her words back to her with even more venom. He is screaming about his father, about Dante, Neveah, and finally himself. They are struggling, not fighting exactly but something even more primal. A physical expression of their shared pain and resentment and loss.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“Why wouldn’t he? Because y’all are friends? I work with money every day. Money is like acid. It burns through everything. Friendships, family, lovers, husbands and wives. Whatever bond you think you have, money will make that shit dissolve. It’s acid. Don’t ever lie to yourself and think it ain’t,” Roman said.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“To be a king”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“His father used to say how in the Bible it says that God destroyed the earth with water but the next time it’ll be fire.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“The opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“You know Jefferson Run used to be the number one producer of Mason jars? Was the number one producer of Mason jars from 1901 to 1987. Now all we make is orphans and widows,”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“But he had no desire to be the King of Ashes. That title belonged to his father”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“He saw them both fading away, turned to dust and lost in the wind as the universe shrugged and continued on its way.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“Disillusionment”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“Because somebody told them they were in charge. It’s like the old Lord Acton quote about power. It corrupts”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes

“Roman had lost a lot in life, but he knew one thing. He’d never been defeated.”
― S.A. Cosby, King of Ashes