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511 pages, Paperback
First published September 14, 2021
“What is the point of gathering knowledge if one does not pass it on? What is the point of growing old if one does not try to shape the future?”
“Sometimes, the only way to improve something is to destroy it, so it can be rebuilt better… Sometimes, to change the world, we must first burn it down.”
“How could one man keep his oath when everyone else was breaking theirs, after all? An army very much relied on unity of purpose.”
“Have you been outside lately? Wisdom is not at a premium, madness is the fashion, the balance sheets are all torn up and the friends that were assets have become liabilities… Threats for tomorrow don’t cut very deep when today is so damn threatening.”
“The past has never interested me. For better or worse it is done, and set, and littered with disappointments as a battlefield is littered with the dead. But the future is a ploughed field, full of potential. The future we can twist into wonderful shapes.”
“It’s a comfort, telling yourself there’s some big right thing out there. That you could seek some wise old bastard in the mountains who’s got the answer. Then there’d be no need for doubts and regrets… But far as I can tell it ain’t that simple. Right things, wrong things, well… it’s all a matter of where you stand. Every choice is good for some, bad for others. And once you’re chief, you can’t just do what’s good for you, or those you love. You have to find what’s best for most. Worst for fewest.”
“The sad truth is, men love to follow a man other man fear… Makes them feel fearsome, too. We tell the odd fond story of the good men. The straight edges. Your Rudd Threetrees, your Dogmen. But it’s the butchers men love to sing of. The burners and the blood-spillers. Your Cracknut Whirruns and your Black Dows. Your Bloody-Nines. Men don’t dream of doing the right thing, but of ripping what they want from the world with their strength and their will.”
“History is not the story of battles between right and wrong, but between one man’s right and another’s. Evil is not the opposite of good. It is what we call another man’s notion of good when it differs from ours.”
“Don’t matter how savage a face you show the world, few men dare look the Great Leveller in the eye once he comes calling.”
“Great folk are great ‘cause they plant new footsteps. Not ‘cause they blunder through the same mistakes some other bastards made.”
“If the Great Change taught us anything, it is that the vast majority of us are cowards the vast majority of the time.”
“Before we can feed the people’s bellies,” agreed Risinau, “we must feed the people’s minds. Only with a government founded on sound principles of fairness and justice can they prosper!”
“Well, at least one of us has something long.” She started forwards and jabbed her little finger in his face. “Guess we know why they call you the Nail now!”
“You let one sheep pick its own path,” said Isern, “and ’fore you know it the whole herd’s got opinions.”