Cameron M. Hayden > Quotes

“I could stand in the middle of Front Street shrieking like a banshee and nobody would notice me. You don't need magic to be invisible in a town like this. Being poor works just the same. So stand behind me and think quiet thoughts.”
― C.M. Hayden, The Reach Between Worlds

“It’s amazing what desperation can do to a person. It can seep into the heart. Turn us into the very monsters we fight." -Vexis”
― C.M. Hayden, The Reach Between Worlds

“I don’t need immortality. The fear of death keeps a girl sharp.”
― C.M. Hayden, The Stars That Form Us

“I don’t need immortality. The fear of death keeps a girl sharp. It helps us remember that what we do here, now, matters. What good is immortality, if you’re just a dirty little despot in some shitty corner of the world?”
― C.M. Hayden, The Stars That Form Us

“Good strategy, keep the conversation going until a guard notices the bodies outside the door. Maybe bursts in to save you. Not a bad idea.”
― C.M. Hayden, The Stars That Form Us

“Vexis stopped crying. She now looked more annoyed than anything. She feigned like she was trying to remember something. “So, eh, was he the fat one or the crippled one? Or the fat, crippled one? Y’know, it was just so much fun watching them hobble towards their body parts, I didn’t think to ask for names.”
― C.M. Hayden, The Reach Between Worlds

“I don’t need immortality. The fear of death keeps a girl sharp. It helps us remember that what we do here, now, matters. What good is immortality if you’re just a dirty little despot in some shitty corner of the world?”
― C.M. Hayden, The Stars That Form Us

“Don’t sweat it, getting shot out of the sky is the thing least likely to kill you today.”
― C.M. Hayden, The Reach Between Worlds

“Bad men with smiles are the most dangerous kind.”
― C.M. Hayden, The Reach Between Worlds

“It’s an often repeated lie that familial bonds are the strongest. Some swear by them. Some claim an other-worldly connection with their siblings or nonsense of that order. These can be dismissed as flights of fancy. Artifices of civilization.

In the wild, animals often exhibit what we would perceive as familial love. Some wild cats will grow up nurtured by their mothers, surrounded by their siblings, but should one stray from the pack for too long and attempt to rejoin, it will be summarily eaten or maimed by its ‘family.’ It’s no longer a part of them. The blood connection is irrelevant, what matters is the perception of the group.

Conversely, there have been recorded instances of unfaithful wives giving birth to children from a man other than her husband. The father, oblivious to the indiscretion, loves the child as if it were his own. Would that love fade if he found out the truth?

Who do you love more, your brother or your best friend? What if your brother tried to kill you, who then? Here, then, is my twentieth truth: “Do not trust in blood, trust only in yourself." In the end, that is all you have.”
― C.M. Hayden, The Stars That Form Us

“Taro knelt and tightened the leather laces of his prosthetic leg. Buckles and straps kept the wood attached to his ankle.”
― C.M. Hayden, The Reach Between Worlds

“That’s the world we live in,” Vexis said bitterly. “People die every day by the thousands; old age, war, disease. You think the universe gives a damn about our feelings on the matter?” Vexis held Nima’s hands to hers. “Protect those you care about with your own two hands. Fuck morality.” Nima looked up in disbelief. “Taro was right. You’re twisted.” “No, the world is twisted. And messy. And unfair. I’m just meeting it halfway.”
― C.M. Hayden, All the Gods Below

“It was at that moment, as Taro watched the mountain of a man charging toward him like a mad bull, that he thought perhaps he’d taken this too far.”
― C.M. Hayden, All the Gods Below

“Kurian smirked. “Dragons don’t believe in fate.” He held up his hands, framing a square with his thumbs and forefingers. “It’s all about the big picture. There are likely futures, and there are less likely futures, but nothing is set. That’s what my dad says, anyway.” “And what do you say?” “Like I said, dragons don’t believe in fate.” “You look as human as anyone I’ve ever met.”
― C.M. Hayden, All the Gods Below

“All know of the gods that adorn the sky, giving light to darkness and hope to despair. But there are other gods, beings of pure malice that dwell not in the heavens, but in the hearts of men.”
― C.M. Hayden, All the Gods Below

“Good strategy, keep the conversation going until a guard notices the bodies outside the door. Maybe burst in to save you. Not a bad idea.”
― C.M. Hayden, The Stars That Form Us

“The floors were polished mahogany, clear as glass,”
― C.M. Hayden, The Reach Between Worlds

“And the king could find no sleep. Not then, not now, and still he waits to this day in a shell of spent flesh... but they say he no longer dreams.”
― C.M. Hayden, The Stars That Form Us

“Fear abounds. And where fear dwells, evil festers.”
― C.M. Hayden, All the Gods Below

“He deserves to die.” “I daresay he might. But like all men: on his own two feet, with a sword in his hand.”
― C.M. Hayden, All the Gods Below

“It was only then, when that terrible voice spoke, that Taro realized just how outmatched he was. Craetos wasn’t some simple dragon. He wasn’t a creature that could be beaten with swords or spears or arrows. Or even with magistry. Taro wasn’t standing in the presence of a dragon. He was standing in the presence of a god.”
― C.M. Hayden, All the Gods Below

“You don't need magic to be invisible in a town like this. Being poor works just the same.”
― C.M. Hayden, The Reach Between Worlds