Richard Swan > Quotes

“Beware the idiot, the zealot and the tyrant; each clothes himself in the armour of ignorance.”
― Richard Swan, The Justice of Kings

“Tyranny loves apathy, but it fears a sword in the hand of a good man.”
― Richard Swan, The Trials of Empire

“They just gleefully spouted mistruths that were so outrageous and stupid there was no way to properly engage with them.”
― Richard Swan, The Tyranny of Faith

“Few people will thank you for being cleverer than them. A man will prefer the ravings of his neighbour over the word of the most learned scholar in Sova.” SIR WILLIAM THE HONEST”
― Richard Swan, The Justice of Kings

“Power does things to a man’s mind. It unlocks his baser instincts which the process of civilisation has before occluded. Powerful men are closer in mind to wild beasts than they are to their supposed human inferiors.”
― Richard Swan, The Justice of Kings

“It is a curious thing, is it not, that you can be more like him than he is himself.”
― Richard Swan, The Trials of Empire

“Few things in this life can be guaranteed with greater certainty than the incredible contrivances men will go to to generate money from nothing at all.” PHILOSOPHER AND JURIST FRANCIS GERECHT”
― Richard Swan, The Justice of Kings

“Forgive me; I was taking my cue from you. I thought we had reached the point in the session where we simply spoke whatever nonsense entered our brains.”
― Richard Swan, The Tyranny of Faith

“Beware the tyrant – he clothes himself in the armour of ignorance’.”
― Richard Swan, The Trials of Empire

“When one is faced with such naked evil, there is a temptation to believe that the commonfolk will see it for what it is. In reality it is tenacious, like a weed. It alters perceptions and tolerances slowly, insidiously. It must be fought constantly, and cut out at the roots.”
― Richard Swan, The Trials of Empire

“Death is the reward for hope.”
― Richard Swan, The Tyranny of Faith

“Many have questioned my methods; none have questioned the results.”
― Richard Swan, The Tyranny of Faith

“To be a joke and to be perceived as a joke are two different things.”
― Richard Swan, Grave Empire

“Sova in all things.”
― Richard Swan, Grave Empire

“von Osterlen was a pragmatic and intelligent woman. Such people rarely indulged in religious practice save what was required of them.”
― Richard Swan, The Trials of Empire

“Truth is found at the bottom of the brandy glass and the top of the scaffold.”
― Richard Swan, Grave Empire

“Imagine it for a moment. To die”
― Richard Swan, Grave Empire

“History is neat. It is packaged, artificially broken up into epochs, and dissected remotely, both geographically and temporally, with the benefit of long hindsight. The reality of living through these turbulent times was much different. Matters are insidious. They build up over time, like small pieces of wood being chipped out of a supporting beam. Complexities and nuances are lost in the retelling of the story.”
― Richard Swan, The Tyranny of Faith

“Humankind is not so self-terminating that we would allow our greatest quality – that of our capacity for hope – to be fully extinguished. But I shall readily admit that there are times when we are reduced to fanning the embers.”
― Richard Swan, The Tyranny of Faith

“The father of misfortune sires many children.”
― Richard Swan, The Tyranny of Faith

“Imagine it for a moment. To die, to be permanently, irretrievably killed, the balance of your life spent in one painful instant, for the sake of a length of soil. For the stroke of the cartographer’s pen. For the fleeting satisfaction of a carousel of general staff. For the mutable appreciation of some distant king. Imagine participating in such a scheme willingly. Imagine it.”
― Richard Swan, Grave Empire

“There is something so contemptible about newsmen. Their salt is misery, their butter woe. Their job is to distil the wretchedness of millions into inches on a sheet, and capture its most despondent and salacious essence.”
― Richard Swan, Grave Empire

“You are a fool if you think word has not spread already. There are demons in hell who envy your reputation.”
― Richard Swan, Grave Empire

“There was never a good time to die, but it also seemed like now was a particularly bad one.”
― Richard Swan, Grave Empire

“About his feet was a large pool of fresh blood – and crushed to a fine paste between the shut gates, like a burst sausage, was a body. A single green eye, hanging from a smear of gore, looked out accusingly at us from the gap.”
― Richard Swan, The Tyranny of Faith

“Is it ever possible?” I asked. “To achieve good by doing only good?”
― Richard Swan, The Trials of Empire

“The ambassador is more warrior than any member of the general staff. By the power of his words alone are entire nations disassembled.”
― Richard Swan, Grave Empire

“Bad tidings and wise counsel are as easily ignored as one another.”
― Richard Swan, The Justice of Kings

“What then was the purpose of imprisoning them? Was it a means to cause them to fixate on their crime, to ruminate on it and so elicit remorse and empathy? Or was it to punish? Or both? If they would eventually die in gaol, why not kill them from the off, and spare the state the expense of their custody?”
― Richard Swan, The Trials of Empire

“Excellent. She’s insulting us now. Fantastic. Damn and blast this nonsense, we need to go if we’ve any hope of getting out of here,” Glaser said, grabbing the nearest person, which happened to be Ozolinsh. She aggressively pulled her arm out of the colonel’s grip.
“Get off me!” she muttered angrily.
“Wait,” Lyzander said, himself reaching out absently to grab the nearest person, which happened to be Renata. She instinctively slapped him away.”
― Richard Swan, Grave Empire