Shadows Upon Time Quotes

“Beauty cannot stay, nor endure—indeed, that a thing is and is gone next is part of what makes a thing beautiful. The preciousness of any beautiful thing—any good thing—lies in its scarcity. And because all things are scarce when measured against eternity and infinity, all things are beautiful—if seen at the right angle, if captured in the right light.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“How easily the untested claim righteousness”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“My heart is with you, wherever you may be.
Until the end of all... and after it.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“It was the first time I had ever heard those words spoken aloud”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“The Chantry!” Edouard objected. “You said yourself that there are more of the Monumentals out there! Destroy this ship if you must—I will not miss it—but we need you. Your daughter needs you!” I could not help but smile. “She needs you”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“But might a germ not slay even the mightiest of dragons?”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“The fear of the Dark. Each man’s first and oldest fear. But a child fears the dark for its mystery”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“Power is no freedom—unless the man who exercises that power is a monster”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“The planet—Gododdin itself—shattered. I saw it die.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“You cannot restore her?” Otomno asked me, eyes hooded, narrowed. “Veih,” I’d said. “That power is not mine.”
“But you restored yourself!” Darathama pressed its face to its undead father’s side. It did not move, or cry—I did not know if Cielcin could cry, or if crying expressed anything like human sorrow. I laid my hand upon the child’s head all the same.
“Utannash restored me,” I’d said. “I do nothing by myself.”
“Then why does Utannash not restore Ramanthanu to me?”
“It is not time,” I said only. In truth, I did not know. Utannash was quiet.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“Light flared from his hands. His feet. His back.
And Earth-man flew.
Flew without wings.
Then felt dismay. Unlike dismay I felt to face god on world of sand. Unlike dismay I felt when red woman told me Marlowe was dead. Unlike dismay I know in long winter, when eggs do not hatch. I knew that I was dead.
Would die there. Earth-men were not like other unaani. He stood in air, aimed his gun at me. My shield took hit, and I dove. He followed me, beam cutting my shield. I put one of bridges between him and me. I grab onto one of struts beneath bridge, hang there, sword in hand. Above me, metal parted easily. It cut just to my left.
Missed me by half wing.
Less.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“men deny that man has any will at all”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“Power is no freedom-unless the man who exercises that power is a monster, and even then, he is free only for a time, for no man is free from consequence.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“But man cannot hide from what is. Reality is stronger than our hopes, our dreams . . . It is stronger even than our fears. And the truth . . . the truth is neither opinion nor its slave. Question it, deny it, hide from it all you like: The truth is, and it is terrible.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“The Sun Eater was my life’s work. My dream. A dream I started working toward when I was eight-years-old and so smitten by Tolkien’s Middle-Earth that I knew I must be a writer. And it’s over now. Finished.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“It doesn’t matter. It wouldn’t matter . . . even if we were just . . . characters in a book. Our lives are still our own”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“Had it all been fate”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“It was my turn to smile”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“In chess”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“Tell me you desire a fig”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“So great a shadow”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“Were they angels? Or demons? What was the difference? Only duty.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“The universe is a wilderness of tigers. Of lions”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“Switch looked at me”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“What was I measured against a being of such enormity? Only a man. But we are their siblings. The same will that set her soul afire before time began conceived me”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“The Prophet’s head was shattered. The snarling horns lay in pieces. The cranium and top of the head were gone.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“No. I dismissed the whisper at a thought. Not Lorian. But I knew what he had done—what he must have done. He had jumped outside. Where we had but reacted”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“Lord Marlowe acted of himself,” said His Radiance”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“You say you do not want the throne”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time

“I should thank you”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Shadows Upon Time