Iron Gold Quotes

"After ten years of war, I no longer believe in moments of peace."

"My children will ask where I was when the Rain fell upon Mercury, and you know what I will have to tell them?” He leans forward with a conspiratorial smile. “I was making night soil, wiping my ass when I heard Barca had taken Mount Caloris."

"He’s larger than I remember, older, and it feels so impossible that he could have come from me. That he could have thoughts of his own. That he’ll love, smile, die like the rest of us."

"I’ll wager Aja’s razor against Apollonius’s helm that my wee monster beats the piss out of your boy."

"I always thought when I became a man, I’d feel more confident, but towering over this boy, I feel so very small. I lost my own father to a cause; have I doomed Pax to the same fate?"

"You put the death in me when I heard of that damn Iron Rain. You put the death in all of us."

"The line of Silenius died with Octavia. You were a fool to let that boy go, but if he was alive we’d know it. He got swallowed up by the war just like the rest of them."

"When I was a soldier, I watched as your wife gave pardons to murderers, to slavers, and I bore it because I was told it was necessary to win the war. I watch now as our people live fifteen to a room with scraps for food, rags for healthcare, while the highColor aristocracy live in towers, and I bear it because I’m told it is necessary to win the war. I’ll be damned if I sit back and watch another tyrant replace the one we left behind because it is necessary to win the fucking war."

"when the law is not obeyed, the ground is fertile for tyrants."

"Sadly, not all adversaries are enemies."

"Sevro watches Dancer’s wool toga billow in the wind as he boards his shuttle. “I liked the bastard better in armor."

"You’re my friend,” he says, voice heavy with emotion. “You will always be my friend. I won’t put a dagger in your back. But I will stand up to you. I will do what is right."

"At first I thought it strange living in the house of my greatest enemy, but in all humanity, who knew the burdens Mustang and I face as well as Octavia? In life, I loathed her. In death, I understand her."

"My wife is not as fickle as a flame. She is an ocean. I knew from the first that I cannot own her, cannot tame her, but I am the only storm that moves her depths and stirs her tides. And that is more than enough."

"We’re missing this,” she says eventually. “Life. The dinner tonight, I’ll remember forever. The lightning bugs. The children in the yard. The smell of rain on its way.” She looks over at me. “Just seeing you laughing. I shouldn’t remember it. It should be one of thousands."

"For those who dine with war and empire, the bill always comes at the end."

"Child of Mars, welcome to the worlds…” the young Sovereign began gently. “You are about to embark upon a great journey to your rightful place upon the surface of the planet your ancestors built. Your sweat, your blood, and that of your kin, gave this planet life. Now it is your turn to share in the bounty of mankind, to live and prosper in this new Solar Republic and pave a way for the next generation. My heart is with you. The hopes and dreams of people everywhere rise with you. Good luck and may you and yours find joy under the stars."

"The Sovereign brought us out of the dirt and forgot us in the mud."

"Do not be jealous, tiny man, that I can lift what you cannot lift."

"She’s like most Limies—petulant and selfish, with a processor in place of a heart."

"Hell hath no fury like a woman packing a railgun."

"One hundred and ten million died for Gold to rule. Then their bombers dropped solocene into the troposphere and neutered an entire race."

"Those you protect will not see you. They will not understand you. But you are the Gray wall between civilization and chaos. And they stand safe in the shadow you cast. Do not expect praise or love. Their ignorance is proof of the success of your sacrifice. For we who serve the state, duty must be its own reward."

"LUX EX TENEBRIS. - Light from darkness."

"My name is Lysander au Lune. I was named for a contradiction: a Spartan general who had the mind of an Athenian."