Darrow O'Lykos Quotes

"I was forged in the bowels of this hard world. Sharpened by hate. Strengthened by love."

"I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war."

"On Mars there is not much gravity. So you have to pull the feet to break the neck. They let the loved ones do it."

"We grew together, and now are grown. In her eyes, I see my heart. In her breath, I hear my soul. She is my land. She is my kin. My love."

"I live for you"

"Then what will it take to take it back?” “Blood.” Dancer smiles at me like a township alleycat. There’s a beast behind this man’s fatherly smiles. Eo was right. It comes to violence."

"Even that Gamma had a family. He dug like me. He was born like me, went through the flush like me, and he never saw the sun either. He was just given a little packet of medicine by the Society, and look at the effect. How clever of them. How much hate they create between people who should be kin."

"The Gray soldiers prowl the cities ensuring order, ensuring obedience to the hierarchy. The Whites arbitrate their justice and push their philosophy. Pinks pleasure and serve in highColor homes. Silvers count and manipulate currency and logistics. Yellows study the medicines and sciences. Greens develop technology. Blues navigate the stars. Coppers run the bureaucracy. Every Color has a purpose. Every Color props up the Golds."

"A Bronze is a faded Gold. Of the same class, but looked down on for inferior appearance, lineage, and capabilities."

"It is better to not make slaves."

"If I am a good man, then why do I want to do bad things?"

"Polemides is Greek for “child of war.”"

"He disagrees with the rules, but he follows them. It is possible. I can do the same until I have power enough to change them."

"Prime. I’ve made a corpse of the best killer’s brother. Dread creeps into me to make a home."

"I forget that Cassius, Roque, Sevro, and I are enemies. Red and Gold. I forget that one day I might have to kill them all. They call me brother, and I cannot but think of them in the same way."

"His eyes do not judge. Not even now. There are times when I wonder what I did to earn such loyalty, then others when I try not to press my luck by looking the gift horse in the mouth."

"He knows what I’ve done. This is a trap I cannot ride away from. I guess there are those times in life. It’s like staring at the ground as you fall from a height. Seeing the end coming doesn’t mean you can dodge it, fix it, stop it."

"The Elderwomen of Lykos say that when a man is bitten by a pitviper, all the poison must be drawn out of the bite, for the poison is wicked. When I was bitten, Uncle Narol left some in on purpose."

"These wolves change with the season. I watch how they surround us. Each moves with individual cunning. Yet each moves as part of the pack."

"Don’t quote Cicero to me,” I say. “You are held to a higher standard than a marauding centurion."

"You do not follow me because I am the strongest. Pax is. You do not follow me because I am the brightest. Mustang is. You follow me because you do not know where you are going. I do."

"I once heard that if a Jackal becomes trapped, it will chew off its own leg to free itself. That knife might be easier than using teeth."

"I am the spark that will set the worlds afire. I am the hammer that cracks the chains."

"Words are a weapon stronger than he knows. And songs are even greater. The words wake the mind. The melody wakes the heart."

"They say a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. They made no mention of the heart."