Foundryside Quotes

“All things have a value. Sometimes the value is paid in coin. Other times, it is paid in time and sweat. And finally, sometimes it is paid in blood.

Humanity seems most eager to use this latter currency. And we never note how much of it we’re spending, unless it happens to be our own.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Pride…it’s so often an excuse for people to be weak.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Every innovation—technological, sociological, or otherwise—begins as a crusade, organizes itself into a practical business, and then, over time, degrades into common exploitation.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Remember—move thoughtfully, give freedom to others, and you'll rarely do wrong ...”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Do you feel free?
Or do you feel, perhaps, like you have stolen yourself?”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“They said I was one thing. But I have changed my mind.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Every innovation—technological, sociological, or otherwise—begins as a crusade, organizes itself into a practical business, and then, over time, degrades into common exploitation. This is simply the life cycle of how human ingenuity manifests in the material world. What goes forgotten, though, is that those who partake in this system undergo a similar transformation: people begin as comrades and fellow citizens, then become labor resources and assets, and then, as their utility shifts or degrades, transmute into liabilities, and thus must be appropriately managed.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“I did what was necessary to gain my freedom. Wouldn’t you?”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“The choices you make will change you over time, Sancia. Make sure they don’t change you into something you don’t recognize—or you might wind up like me.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“There are many dangers here, child, she’d said once. Many. Many ugly things you’re going to have to do. It will be a great contest for you. And you’re going to think: How do I win?

And the answer is—so long as you are alive, you are winning. The only hope you should ever have is to see the next day, and the next. Some here will whisper of liberty—but you can’t be free if you aren’t alive.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Traditional," she echoed. "What a curious word that is. So bland, and yet often so poisonous.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“A struck match sounds like a kiss in the dark, sometimes.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Is this survival? Is this liberty?
“Beats the hell out of me, kid,” said Clef’s voice, soft and sad.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“A struck match sounds like a kiss in the dark, sometimes. She remembered thinking that, watching the flame crack to life and then flutter down to the pools of alcohol running across the floor.
No one had made it out. And as she’d sat and watched, she’d realized—master or slave, all screams sounded alike.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Remember—move thoughtfully, give freedom to others, and you’ll rarely do wrong, Sancia. I’ve learned that now. I wish I’d known it in life.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Bad blood," he said, "is still blood.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“You still define yourself as an item. That is only reason you can be controlled.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“To try to bind a person is like writing in the ocean.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Gregor Dandolo did his utmost to follow the laws: both the laws of the city, and his own moral laws of the universe. But more and more these days, one seemed to disagree with the other.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“There are many dangers here, child, she’d said once. Many. Many ugly things you’re going to have to do. It will be a great contest for you. And you’re going to think: How do I win? And the answer is—so long as you are alive, you are winning. The only hope you should ever have is to see the next day, and the next. Some here will whisper of liberty—but you can’t be free if you aren’t alive.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“As if having you by force was the same as having you.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“I survived. I keep surviving, it seems. It’s taught me many things. After Dantua…it was like a magic spell had been lifted from my eyes. We are making these horrors. We are doing this to ourselves. We have to change. We must change.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“This is a rich man’s fight,” said Sancia. “A rich man’s game. And we’re all just pieces on the board to you. You think you’re different, Orso, but you’re just like all the rest of them!”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Why are you out here risking your life? Is Justice such an odd thing to desire? Justice is a luxury. No said Gregor. It is not. It is a right. And it is a right that has long been denied. He stared out at the city...I would shed every drop of blood in my body for such a thing.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“It’s like an eraser, only I designed it to be attracted to erase one specific thing... the tissue lining the human heart.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Every innovation—technological, sociological, or otherwise—begins as a crusade, organizes itself into a practical business, and then, over time, degrades into common exploitation. This is simply the life cycle of how human ingenuity manifests in the material world. What goes forgotten, though, is that those who partake in this system undergo a similar transformation: people begin as comrades and fellow citizens, then become labor resources and assets, and then, as their utility shifts or degrades, transmute into liabilities, and thus must be appropriately managed. This is a fact of nature just as much as the currents of the winds and the seas. The flow of force and matter is a system, with laws and maturation patterns. We should harbor no guilt for complying with those laws—even if they sometimes require a little inhumanity. —TRIBUNO CANDIANO, LETTER TO THE COMPANY CANDIANO CHIEF OFFICER’S ASSEMBLY”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Justice is a luxury.” “No,” said Gregor. “It is not. It is a right. And it is a right that has long been denied.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“That's what scriving is. Reality doesn't matter. If you can change something's mind enough, it'll believe whatever reality you choose.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Sometimes you need a little revolution to make a lot of good.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside

“Iron is iron. Stone is stone. Wood is wood. Objects have an uncomplicated sense of self, so to speak. Poeple, though, and living things... their sense of self is... complicated. Mutable. It changes. People don't think of themselves as just a bag of flehs and blood and bones, even if they basically are. They think of themselves as soldiers, as kings, as wives and husbands abd children... People can convince themselves to be anything, and because of that, the scrivings you bind them with can't stay anchored. To try to bind a person is like writing in the ocean.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside