Morning Star Quotes
179"This is always how the story would end,” he says to me. “Not with your screams. Not with your rage. But with your silence."
- Adrius au Augustus
ch. Prologue, p. 2
"Man is no island. We need those who love us. We need those who hate us. We need others to tether us to life, to give us a reason to live, to feel."
- Darrow O'Lykos
ch. 1: Only the Dark, p. 4
"When all is lost, honor demands death,” Roque once told me. “It is a noble end."
- Roque au Fabii
ch. 1: Only the Dark, p. 5
"what would a rich poet know of death? The poor know death. Slaves know death. But even as I yearn for it, I fear it. Because the more I see of this cruel world, the less I believe it ends in some pleasant fiction."
- Darrow O'Lykos
ch. 1: Only the Dark, p. 7
"Pity is not forgiveness, nor is gratitude absolution."
- Darrow O'Lykos
ch. 2: Prisoner L17L6363, p. 15
"There is a point when honor becomes a flaw of character, Morning Knight."
- Lilath au Faran
ch. 2: Prisoner L17L6363, p. 15
"The Golds carve their deeds into their swords. The grand, violent shit they’ve done. But Ares thought you’d prefer to see the people you love"
- Holiday ti Nakamura
ch. 3: Snakebite, p. 26
"He wants pity. My pity was lost in the darkness."
- Darrow O'Lykos
ch. 4: Cell 2187, p. 35
"The heroes of Red songs have mercy, honor. They let men live, as I let the Jackal live, so they can remain untarnished by sin. Let the villain be the evil one. Let him wear black and try to stab me as I turn my back, so I can wheel about and kill him, giving satisfaction without guilt. But this is no song. This is war."
- Darrow O'Lykos
ch. 4: Cell 2187, p. 35
"How did I get here? A boy of the mines now a shivering fallen warlord staring down at a darkened city, hoping against everything that he can go home."
- Darrow O'Lykos
ch. 5: Plan C, p. 43
"Death chewed on me a bit. Then spat my bloody ass back out. Said there was killing that needed doin’ and some wild blood of mine that needed savin’"
- Narol O'Lykos
ch. 8: Home, p. 56
"I watch my mother stare distantly at a crackling lightbulb in the ceiling. What is this like for her? For a mother to see her child broken by other men? To see the pain written in scars on his skin, spoken in silences, in far-off looks. How many mothers have prayed to see their sons, their daughters return from war only to realize the war has kept them, the world has poisoned them, and they’ll never be the same?"
- Darrow O'Lykos
ch. 8: Home, p. 59
"He never stopped looking for you,” Dancer explains. “I thought he was mad. He said you weren’t dead. That he could feel it. That he would know. I even asked him to give up the helm to someone else. He was too reckless searching for you."
- Dancer O'Faran
ch. 8: Home, p. 59
"I said it once. Now I’ll say it twice. If there’s two things in this world that can’t be killed, it’s the fungus under my sack and the Reaper of bloodydamn Mars. Haha!"
- Sevro au Barca
ch. 9: The City of Ares, p. 65
"Mickey had your eyes in a cryobox at his joint in Yorkton—creepy place, by the by—when we raided it for supplies to bring back to Tinos to help the Rising. I figured you weren’t usin’ ’em, so…” He shrugs awkwardly. “So I asked if he’d put ’em in. You know. Bring us closer together. Something to remember you by. That’s not so weird, right?"
- Sevro au Barca
ch. 9: The City of Ares, p. 66
"The Sons of Ares are guerilla fighters. Saboteurs. Spies. But in this war, Lorn’s words haunt me. “How do sheep kill a lion? By drowning him in blood."
- Darrow O'Lykos
ch. 10: The War, p. 77
"The man with voice and violence controls the world"
- Darrow O'Lykos
ch. 10: The War, p. 78
"I released your Carving to every mine. To every holoSite. To every millimeter of this bloodydamn Society. The Golds thought they could kill you off. That they could beat you and make your death mean nothing. I’ll be damned if I’d let that happen.” He thumps his hand on a table. “Damned if I’d let you disappear facelessly into the machine like my mother. There’s not a Red on Mars that doesn’t know your name, Reap. Not a single person in the digital world who doesn’t know that a Red rose to become a prince of the Golds, to conquer Mars. I made you a myth. And now that you’re back from the dead, you’re not just a martyr. You’re the bloodydamn messiah the Reds have been waiting for their entire lives."
- Sevro au Barca
ch. 10: The War, p. 79
"Forget a man’s name and he’ll forgive you. Remember it, and he’ll defend you forever."
- Darrow O'Lykos
ch. 11: My People, p. 84
"I’ve never been a man of joy or a man of war, or an island in a storm. Never an absolute like Lorn. That was what I pretended to be. I am and always have been a man who is made complete by those around him."
- Darrow O'Lykos
ch. 10: My People, p. 84
"Oh, how the vultures flock to the mighty, to eat the carcasses left in their wake."
- Roque au Fabii
ch. 12: The Julii, p. 88
"We all enter a certain social contract by living in this Society of ours. My people oppress your tiny kind. We live off the spoils of your labor. Pretending you don’t exist. And you fight back. Usually very poorly. Personally, I think that’s your right. It’s not good or evil. But it’s fair. I’d applaud a mouse that managed to kill an eagle, wouldn’t you? Good for it. It’s absurd and hypocritical for Golds to complain now simply because the Reds finally started fighting well."
- Victra au Julii
ch. 12: The Julii, p. 88
"You taught me loyalty, more than Mustang, more than Roque. And because of that, I believe in you, Victra. As much as I’ve ever believed in anyone.” I hold out my hand. “Be my family and I will never forsake you. I will never lie to you. I will be your brother as long as you live."