Kingdoms of Death Quotes

“Always accuse the enemy of what you’re doing.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“We are all shaped by our suffering. That we are only what we are is ever our chiefest sin.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“Your friends loved you, as I do—as your Valka does. That is why they saved you. And that love, I told you, is a mighty thing!”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“I would have gone with you to the end, Had,” he said. “The very end.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“Standing among my final friends in all the universe, I raised my sword and laughed.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“There is pain always, and ugliness, but the light and beauty of the world shine always above and beyond the powers of darkness to destroy.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“I found rain in that cloudless sky.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“It was a privilege fighting for you, Hadrian.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“But despair is the deepest sin, and the final failure.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“Good rulers—in my experience—listen more than they speak. It had been so with Raine Smythe, and indeed with my father, who for all his callousness ran his prefecture with the ruthless efficiency of a thinking machine.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“Those who wreak destruction and call it progress are ever enemies of eternity . . .” I said, and spared another glance for my host. “And truth.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“They are quiet moments, private moments, moments which belong to us and to memory, not to history and you.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“I escaped the kingdoms of death and returned to that great empire of silence, and in silence lived for years.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“Not even if I had been whole. And I knew I would never be whole again.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“Those who wreak destruction and call it progress are ever enemies of eternity”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“You cannot become more than human by making yourself less human in the first place.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“A black book. The only book permitted in the Commonwealth. A fitting emblem that, a fitting contradiction. They were a people who called slavery freedom, a nation that called narrative truth, a culture that glorified its People by destroying the very concept of personhood. How could they be anything but a nation of book burners founded on a book?”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“A black book. The ”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“There are endings, Reader, and this is one. A part of me will forever lie within that broken ring of green stone, amid the blood and sacrifice before the ruin of that dreaming god of night. But a part, too, rests now and always on a sunlit cliff above the waters of Colchis, under a sunlit sky. There is pain always, and ugliness, but the light and beauty of the world shine always above and beyond the powers of darkness to destroy. I was alive, had come like Orpheus out of Hades—but unlike Orpheus, I had not come out alone. But I had come out wounded, scarred. More wounds and worse awaited me, wounds that would leave no mark. If what I have suffered—if what I have done—disturbs you, Reader, I do not blame you. If you would read no further, I understand. You have the luxury of foresight. You know where this ends. I shall go on alone.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“Some man indeed,” he said. “I do not pretend to understand what is happening to you, to understand this business of the Cielcin and the Quiet, but I know Siran was proud of you, too. Your friends loved you, as I do—as your Valka does. That is why they saved you. And that love, I told you, is a mighty thing! That’s worth fighting for, even after those who loved us are gone.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“There are endings, Reader, for all things. And before long, one such ending came.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“But I was not alone, not truly. Valka was with me. But Valka was as much a part of me—and I of her. A man needs more. A man must have a people, must belong somewhere. To someone. A man must have a family, born, chosen, or made.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“Absurdly, Pallino smiled. “Then I’ll be . . . be seeing . . . be seeing Elara sooner than I thought. See Ghen, too, and Switch and the rest. I’ll tell them, tell them Hadrian said hello.” His eyes focused on some point beyond my shoulder, and his lips hardly moved. “You give them hell now,” he said.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“Blood ran from the back of his head. His eyes were glassy and dull, and every fiber of him gave the impression that here was a man held together by nothing but sheer force of will. That, and pure—if righteous—rage.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“Men are base creatures, my father countered. What is justice compared to hunger? Compared to fear? Nothing.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“The greenish glow of Eue blotted out all but the brightest stars, and all was silent in that kingdom of death.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“TIME IS THE MERCY of Eternity, or so the poets say. But the mind makes Eternity of Time.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“Pain, I have said, forms the basis of all morality, for no man who suffers pain doubts that it is evil. No one who experiences pain can even question it.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“If, as some believe, time is without end, then in time all things are made true. I believe there must be a final end, as there are endings for so many lesser things: empires, planets, men. But even the centuries of a man’s life are time enough to make truth of mistruth.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death

“Those are your orders,” the Emperor replied. “Go and perform your magic, sorcerer.”
― Christopher Ruocchio, Kingdoms of Death