You realized those truths that cut against the interests of the powerful were called lies, and that those lies that served those interests were called truths.
History. Language. Passion. Custom. All these things determine what men say, think, and do. These are the hidden puppet-strings from which all men hang.
Fools can be trusted precisely because they are fools. Their agendas rarely intersect with your own.
The hot glare of evening winked into the chill glow of dusk in a heartbeat
Where no paths exist, a man strays only when he misses his destination. There is no crime, no transgression, no sin save foolishness or incompetence, and no obscenity save the tyranny of custom.
They so wanted it to be simple, believers. It is what is! they cried, sneering at the possibility of other eyes, other truths, overlooking their own outrageous presumption. It says what it says, spoke...
There was such a difference, he thought, between the beauty that illuminated, and the beauty that was illuminated.
That hope is little more than the premonition of regret. This is the first lesson of history.
Nothing makes fools of people quite like a luxurious life, Achamian said, shaking his head and nodding. Ajencis says they confuse decisions made atop pillows for those compelled by stones. When they h...
For Nautzera there was no present, only the clamour of a harrowing past and the threat of a corresponding future. For Nautzera, the present had receded to a point, had become the precarious fulcrum wh...
But I’ve always believed, Kellhus continued, that one must ride another man’s horse for a day before criticizing. To better understand him? No, the man replied with an eye-twinkling shrug. Because the...
Zsoronga, Sorweel was beginning to realize, possessed the enviable ability to yoke his conviction to his need — to believe, absolutely, whatever his heart required. For Sorweel, belief and want always...
Zealous men often confuse purity with intolerance, particularly when they're young.
You can count the bruises on your heart easily enough, but numbering sins is a far tricker matter. Men are eternally forgetting for their benefit. They leave it to the World to remeber, and to the Out...
What did it mean to a prophet to sing in a God´s own voice? Would that make him a shaman, as in the days described in the Tusk? Or would it make him a god?
The genius of most men lay in finding reasons after their actions. The heart was ever self-serving, especially when the beliefs served involved sacrifice.
The arguments were assembled and were defeated. The reasons railed and railed. But love had no logic.No more than sleep.
That’s the horrible fact of sinners. We’re indistinguishable from the righteous.
Small wonder, Thomas thought, we humans were so jumpy, so arrogant, so defensive. Small wonder the Internet, which was supposed to blow the doors off narrow, parochial views of the world, had simply t...
Set aside your conviction, Moënghus said, for the feeling of certainty is no more a marker of truth than the feeling of will is a marker of freedom. Deceived men always think themselves certain, just...