D.D. Webb > Quotes

“All systems are corrupt. All governments and all laws exist to benefit those in power.”
― D.D. Webb, The Gods are Bastards

“Revenge should only be sought if it serves both a strategic and personal goal. Strategic in that it will dissuade the target or others from committing more actions that demand retaliation. Personal in that the target must understand by whom and for what they are being punished, and be unable to prevent their comeuppance, because only in that circumstance will it bring satisfaction.”
― D.D. Webb, The Gods are Bastards

“Aristocrats are like church bells: expensive, pretty, and only useful when regularly struck.”
― D.D. Webb, The Gods are Bastards

“To whom can you appeal for justice when the source of justice itself is the source of your oppression?”
― D.D. Webb, The Gods are Bastards

“Why, a good evening to you, dear lady! Forgive the spartan accommodations; I was not expecting such honored company tonight, as you are manifestly aware.”
― D.D. Webb, The Gods are Bastards

“respectively. “It’s been a long time since I saw her like … Well. We’ve survived. You survive long enough, and you start to forget that’s not the same thing as living.”
― D.D. Webb, Only Villains Do That: An Isekai Adventure

“with my mysterious Healer persona, I forbore comment. It was, I remained aware, deeply hypocritical for me to take moral offense at what I was seeing here; my own goal was to use these people. I was not planning to use them anywhere near as brutally as their current exploiters, but still. Being a lesser breed of asshole doesn’t mean you get to call yourself a hero. It was just … You couldn’t see shit like this without feeling something, unless you were a psychopath.”
― D.D. Webb, Only Villains Do That: An Isekai Adventure

“It was, I remained aware, deeply hypocritical for me to take moral offense at what I was seeing here; my own goal was to use these people. I was not planning to use them anywhere near as brutally as their current exploiters, but still. Being a lesser breed of asshole doesn’t mean you get to call yourself a hero. It was just … You couldn’t see shit like this without feeling something, unless you were a psychopath.”
― D.D. Webb, Only Villains Do That: An Isekai Adventure

“Lord Seiji!” Sakin turned to me, putting on a wounded expression in the dimness. “A man has to take pride in his work. Where’s the satisfaction in standing over the ash and ruin of your enemy’s hopes and dreams if you know, in your heart of hearts, that you half-assed it?” Slowly, I turned to meet his eyes. “You will either be the first to betray me, or my last loyal servant by my side as we charge into the jaws of hell.” “Right?” He grinned in sheer delight. “I don’t know about you, my lord, but I’m excited to find out which! We’re going places, you and I.”
― D.D. Webb, Only Villains Do That: An Isekai Adventure

“You do whatever you have to do, Lord Seiji, and never make excuses or justifications; never pretend you haven’t done what you’re ashamed of. And, every time you have the opportunity, be kind. Take any chance to put some good into the world, in payment of the bad.” “Do you think that actually balances out?” “I’m not sure I believe balance is … a thing. How would you even begin calculating the weight of good and evil? Maybe the goddess … sorry, goddesses can do it, but I dunno. I just live with the fact that there’s no real certainty about anything and all I can control is how much of an effort I make. So I try to do good. To be kind.”
― D.D. Webb, Only Villains Do That: An Isekai Adventure