Wisdom Quotes

"An empire cannot be destroyed from without till it is destroyed from within. Remember that. We’re empire-breakers, not terrorists."

"In the densest places of man, humanity most easily breaks down"

"If you are thrown into the deep and do not swim, you will drown,” he says, and raises his thin eyebrows. “So keep swimming, right?"

"no man can pursue any endeavor in the face of tribal warfare."

"Blood begets blood begets blood begets blood …"

"A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots."

"Watch how a pitviper strikes, my son.” Father once clutched me by my wrist and made me play this game. “Watch it coil upward and upward till it reaches its crest. Don’t move before then. Don’t strike out with your slingBlade. If you do, then it’ll get you. It’ll kill you. Move just when it’s coming down. Do that with the terror in life. Don’t act till you’re as scared as you’ll get, then …” He snapped his fingers."

"I would not have raised you to be a great man. There is no peace for great men. I would have had you be a decent one. I would have given you the quiet strength to grow old with the woman you love."

"Pliny is a leech,” I say. “A liar as much as you’re an honest man.” “And that makes him dangerous. Liars make the best promises."

"You taught me once, Lorn. I’m a better man for it. But now it’s my turn to teach you. Men can change. Sometimes they have to fall. Sometimes they have to leap.” I pat his knee and gain my feet. “Before you die, you’ll realize it was a mistake to kill Tactus, because you never gave him the chance to believe he was a good man."

"Mortals who plan die a thousand times. We who obey die but once."

"Power is the crown that eats the head"

"Achilles let his pride and rage consume him, and in the end, an arrow shot by a Pixie took him in the foot. There’s much to live for besides this. Hopefully you’ll grow old enough to realize that Achilles was a gorydamn fool. And we’re fools all the more for not realizing he wasn’t Homer’s hero. He was warning. I feel like men once knew that."

"Friendships take minutes to make, moments to break, years to repair"

"In a storm, you don’t tie two boats together. They’ll drag each other down."

"Pity is not forgiveness, nor is gratitude absolution."

"Forget a man’s name and he’ll forgive you. Remember it, and he’ll defend you forever."

"Oh, how the vultures flock to the mighty, to eat the carcasses left in their wake."

"I think the shittiest part about getting old is now we’re smart enough to see the cracks in everything."

"A man thinks he can fly, but he is afraid to jump. A poor friend pushes him from behind.” He looks up at me. “A good friend jumps with."

"“Do you know how the Inuit tribes of Earth killed wolves?” I ask. She doesn’t. “Slower and weaker than the wolves, they chiseled knives till they were razor sharp, coated them in blood and stuck them upright in the ice. Then the wolves would come up and lick the blood. And as the wolf licks faster and faster, he’s so ravenous he doesn’t realize until it’s too late that the blood he’s drinking is his own."

"How sad, the dependability of greed to make men fools."

"just because a lion lets you pet it doesn’t mean it’s tame."

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

"Sadly, not all adversaries are enemies."