Mirror Gate Quotes

“One of the strangest things about life is that we are as much defined by our hopes as we are our secret fears. We are, for the most part, the product of what we think about the most. Our minds are fertile beds, like these flower boxes. What would happen if the gardener did not pull out the weeds?”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“Vanity comes naturally to all of us. Every human is, to their own mind, the center of all known worlds—the axle on which it all turns. And yet their knowledge is but their own perception of the things around them, and their feelings are inescapably colored by their perceptions of the world’s wants and its merits.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“A person is but the product of their thoughts. What I think, I become. The challenge is in the taming of the maelstrom. How easily we fall prey to the thoughts of others. They can spread like a poisoned touch. Too often we unwittingly let the people around us tamper with our minds.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“The truth will always make the ignorant angry, whether they be ignorant out of choice or lack of opportunity,”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“It wasn’t destroyed, Sera. It was neglected. Eventually the decay grew so bad that a roof collapsed. It became dangerous. Rather than spending time and money fixing it, the people who lived there ignored the problems until the entire place was ruined utterly. To reconstruct the abbey would have required enormous funds. A small decision not to fix broken roof shingles led to another decision to put off the problem. And another and another. Eventually, given enough time, there will not be two stones left standing.” “That is an awful story,” Sera said. “Fixing the roof should have been a priority. Now the entire structure is lost.” “I understand that someone was hired to fix the roof and the brickwork in the beginning. An accident ensued, and the man who’d been hired was incapable of finishing the work. Eventually the problem was ignored.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“How quick we are to disbelieve what will hurt our view of ourselves. People, whatever their circumstances, struggle with being petty and jealous by nature. We are all, to some extent, selfish and self-absorbed.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“He was kind and gracious, and Sera noticed how Lady Corinne doted on him, watching his every move, just like the butler did for her. She clung to his arm, smiled when she spoke to him, and caressed his sleeve. It was plain for all to see that Lady Corinne admired her husband, and he treated her with respect and tenderness in return. It was an unfamiliar sight for Sera, a sharp contrast to her own parents’ dynamic.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“That kind does not go out but by vigil.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“My future is anything but certain. But while that may be true, my feelings are very certain. I would save you needless pain and expense. Before I seek a suitor, which I have no intention of doing anytime soon, I require friendship above all. Your manners toward me, so far, have given me some cause to distrust you. You’ve watched me. You’ve sought information about me without asking for it directly. I’m afraid you’ve conjured some fantasy in your mind that is entirely one-sided.” As she spoke, she watched his expression begin to wilt. He listened to her, but the flames in his cheeks grew even brighter. She’d struck the mark in the center with her arrow of truth.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“Only a small portion of the people will ever reach their true potential in life. Because it is difficult. Because one must pursue excellence with unwearying vigilance. And that, my young friend, is beyond the capacity of most of humanity. People like to believe that success is merely the product of hard work. But it isn’t. The secrets of the Mysteries aren’t yielded to hard work alone. We are all tested by the Knowing, every single day. These people living in squalor are tested! Will they put another’s interest above their own? Will they speak kindly instead of screaming? Will they let themselves be cheated without growing resentful? Do you see them, Miss Sera? Are they even capable of it?” Sera’s anger was blazing now. She stared at him across the pool. “Are they given the chance?”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“But of course, people will profane anything when they are drunk, and the people in the tenements drink constantly. They do it because they suffer, and they believe inebriation will quiet the ache in their hearts. But that ache is caused by the debauchery of their lives. You may as well prick a finger with a sharp needle and beg it not to bleed. They cannot see the true cause of their suffering. No, they blame it on us.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“Once I am removed from office, my key will be given to another, and I will never be allowed to enter this room again. I will not miss it, for it is a heavy responsibility. A burden, truly. Those who serve grow weary in the service.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“It does no good to litigate evidence in a case already determined.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“No matter how alone she had felt today, it was only a feeling, not the truth.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“We are, for the most part, the product of what we think about the most. Our minds are fertile beds, like these flower boxes. What would happen if the gardener did not pull out the weeds? Like this little one,” he said, pointing out a small weed in one of the boxes. “They would grow and overrun the garden eventually,” Sera replied. “Precisely. It takes little effort to pull one up now.” And he did so and set it down on the stone railing for the gardener to collect. “But they are much more difficult to remove when their roots grow deeper. There is a tendency within the very nature of all things to degrade. On clear days, the ruins of Sempringfall Abbey can be seen from my estate. People like to wander the grounds there and look at the bones of the abbey. There are a few arches still, but most of the place has crumbled. People who visit there always comment about the structure and imagine what might have caused the desolation.” “Why was the abbey destroyed?” “It wasn’t destroyed, Sera. It was neglected. Eventually the decay grew so bad that a roof collapsed. It became dangerous. Rather than spending time and money fixing it, the people who lived there ignored the problems until the entire place was ruined utterly. To reconstruct the abbey would have required enormous funds. A small decision not to fix broken roof shingles led to another decision to put off the problem. And another and another. Eventually, given enough time, there will not be two stones left standing.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“Knowing yourself, and what you want, makes all the difference—even if your dream feels unattainable.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“deliberately to keep the people chasing injustices instead of focusing on the causes of them.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“What do we read over and over in the books you’ve studied? Fear not. A strange injunction, don’t you think, in a world overflowing with violence, poverty, and despair? But, my dear, where else would we be able to practice that tenet but in such a place as this?”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“There are always two reasons people do anything. There’s the real reason, and then there’s the one we think sounds good to others.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“caught”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“One of the strangest things about life is that we are as much defined by our hopes as we are our secret fears. We are, for the most part, the product of what we think about the most.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“Intelligent people can observe the same facts but disagree as to the interpretation of them.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“A small decision not to fix broken roof shingles led to another decision to put off the problem. And another and another. Eventually, given enough time, there will not be two stones left standing.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“A small decision not to fix broken roof shingles led to another decision to put off the problem. And”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“Truth embraces all morality, all virtue, all light, all intelligence, all greatness, and all goodness. It introduces a system of laws; it circumscribes the theories of the day. If we understood, for example, the process of creation, there would be no mystery about it.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“If I feel compelled to act in a way that makes me feel uncomfortable . . . awkward even, then that feeling is almost always, if not always, coming to me from the Knowing. When I’ve chosen to heed the call, and I always try, it quickly becomes clear to me that there was a higher purpose to it. On the other hand, when I have acted in any degree of selfishness . . . meaning, when I seek a course that will benefit myself and not others, I have usually discovered, much to my chagrin, that I’ve failed a little test of character.” His”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“All of your years of preparation and schooling will finally come to fruition. People have different experiences taking the Test. Some are terrified by it and never want to return to an abbey again. Others require years of reflection to understand the ritual. But still others, and I believe you might be one of them, are transformed by the experience. It starts them on a path to fulfill their destiny. I cannot take the Test for you, Cettie”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate

“Sometimes we measure someone from the position of our own years and experience.”
― Jeff Wheeler, Mirror Gate