Paul S. Kemp > Quotes

“She stared up at Vader, unafraid."I hate you and everything you stand for" she said."But when I murdered, I murdered out of love"

Vader raised his blade, his breathing loud and steady. When he spoke, his voice was as deep and hollow as a funeral gong.
"I know precisely what you mean" he said and slashed.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“A memory stabbed him, as sharp as a blade. He’d floated alone in an escape pod over Ryloth once, spinning high over its surface, after crashing a cruiser into a droid control ship. Another name bobbed up and broke the surface of the sea of memory. Ahsoka. He’d called her “Snips” sometimes. He pushed the errant recollection aside and focused on his task.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“Yap, yap little dog.”
― Paul S. Kemp

“An apprentice was unquestioningly loyal until the moment he wasn't. Both Master and apprentice knew this.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“Most people who deal in words don't have much faith in them and I am no exception--especially the big ones like Happy and Love and Honest and Strong. They are too elusive and far too relative when you compare them to sharp, mean little words like Punk and Cheap and Phoney. I feel at home with these, because they're scrawny and easy to pin, but the big ones are tough and it takes either a priest or a fool to use them with any confidence.”
― Paul Kemp

“Malgus knew it was folly. Empires and the men who ruled empires could not stay sharp when surrounded by comfort, by peace.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Deceived

“the scarred face of a clone, the features an echo of so many faces from Vader’s past. Rex. Cody. Fives. Echo. The roster of names moved through Vader’s mind, each of them a trigger for a memory, each of them a ghost from his past.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“Vader completed his meditation and opened his eyes. His pale, flame-savaged face stared back at him from out of the reflective black transparisteel of his pressurized meditation chamber. Without the neural connection to his armor, he was conscious of the stumps of his legs, the ruin of his arms, the perpetual pain in his flesh. He welcomed it. Pain fed his hate, and hate fed his strength. Once, as a Jedi, he had meditated to find peace. Now he meditated to sharpen the edges of his anger.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“Once, as a Jedi, he had meditated to find peace. Now he meditated to sharpen the edges of his anger.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“Sometimes it’s possible for a decision to be right and wrong at the same time,”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“He’d said that the relationship between Sith apprentice and Master was symbiotic but in a delicate balance. An apprentice owed his Master loyalty. A Master owed his apprentice knowledge and must show only strength. But the obligations were reciprocal and contingent. Should either fail in his obligation, it was the duty of the other to destroy him. The Force required it. Since before the Clone Wars, Vader’s Master had never shown anything but”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“Small sparks can start big fires.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View

“Underlings should always be uncomfortable in the presence of their superiors," said the Emperor. "Don't you agree?”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“Losing something she loved had ripped her open in a way she had not expected. The pain hurt, but the pain was right. The Order had wrought a galaxy in which good capitulated to evil, where human feelings—Aryn’s feelings—were crushed under the weight of Jedi nonattachment.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Deceived

“The Emperor said, “My name is Krataa, and this”—he gestured at Vader—“is Irluuk.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“We are, all of us, always being tested,”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“We are, all of us, always being tested, my friend. Tests make us stronger, and strength is power, and power is the point. We must pass all the tests we face… Or die in the effort.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“Be true to yourself"

- Ven Zallow”
― Paul Kemp, Deceived

“Yoda once had told him that fear led to hate and hate to suffering. But Yoda had been wrong. Fear was a tool used by the strong to cow the weak. Hate was the font of true strength. Suffering was not the result of the rule of the strong over the weak, order was. By its very existence, the Force mandated the rule of the strong over the weak; the Force mandated order. The Jedi had never seen that, and so they’d misunderstood the Force and been destroyed. But Vader’s Master saw it. Vader saw it. And so they were strong. And so they ruled.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“Other than the Emperor, only Vader knew the false names were ancient Sith words that meant “death” and “fate.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“The armor separated him from the galaxy, from everyone, made him singular, freed him from the needs of the flesh, the concerns of the body that once had plagued him, and allowed him to focus solely on his relationship to the Force.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“If good people won’t do the hard things, evil people will always win, because evil people will do anything.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Twilight Falling

“The real world didn’t well accommodate principles.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“I fight because that is what I was made to do and the Empire is the instrument through which I realize my purpose. The Empire is war made manifest. That is why it is perfect.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Deceived

“He’d wanted to be the spark that started a fire across the galaxy.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“But sometimes the strong mistake their strength,”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“The past is a ghost that haunts us. Ghosts must be banished. Lingering on the past is weakness, Lord Vader.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“I am a murderer. I simply have not yet murdered. But I will, given time. The good in me is draining away into the dark hole in my center.

My soul is broken. I am broken.

I am my father's son.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Shadowrealm

“She could hear the slow, steady beat of Vader’s respiration but could draw no breath herself.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith

“A thought flashed through Vader’s mind, a stray thought, just for a moment: his Master dead, Vader ruling the Empire, the galaxy, unconstrained by the leash of an old man…”
― Paul S. Kemp, Lords of the Sith