Derek Prior > Quotes

“The idea had always struck Shader as bizarre: entrusting the governance of a country to the whims of an uneducated mob. No sense in it. No continuity. Not to mention that a canny would-be tyrant could easily hoodwink the masses into electing him. It was one small step from freedom to dictatorship.”
― D.P. Prior, Sword of the Archon

“Even the broken will fight”
― D.P. Prior

“Mom reeled away from the chair as if she’d been slapped. Deacon was up in a flash, letting the sword clank to the tiles as he clung to her skirt. Aristodeus raised his palms, and for a moment he looked genuinely sorry. “They will accept him, Gralia, but not until he’s turned thirteen, and not unless he’s proficient with a blade and fluent in Aeternam.” Mom’s breaths came in great heaves. She shut her eyes for a few seconds, her lips working silently over a prayer. She planted a kiss on Deacon’s head and sighed. “Six years, then.” Aristodeus nodded. “Six more years. He’ll be well on his way to manhood by then, Gralia, and I’m sure the last thing you and Jarl will want is a teenager on your hands.” Mom blinked back tears, and she shuddered as she drew in another breath. Deacon knew what she was doing: offering it all up to Nous in reparation for her sins and those of the whole world. Aristodeus stooped to pick up the sword and hand it back to Deacon.”
― D.P. Prior, Sword of the Archon

“You touch fire, it burns you. You only have yourself to blame.”
― D.P. Prior, The Unweaving

“Magic always yields to science, once the subject in question is properly dissected and scrutinized.” “Science?”
― D.P. Prior, Ward of the Philosopher: Shader Origins

“The Ant-Man. Him from the Annals. Back when Sektis Gandaw made us dwarves to mine the scarolite he built his mountain with, he created ants the size of horses to guard the tunnels. Then he took a human and melded it with one of them, so it could keep the rest under control.”
― D.P. Prior, Curse of the Black Axe

“even the holiest of causes are best backed up with the sword.” Deacon”
― D.P. Prior, Ward of the Philosopher: Shader Origins

“What makes a man so, eh? Born bad? Bad choices? Bad friends? Maybe just bad chroniclers. You know, the victors writing history.” Shader”
― D.P. Prior, Sword of the Archon

“It strikes me as pertinent, also, that God is considered, by some, to be a verb. It is in vain that we search for Him in the sky or under the microscope, for He is only present in action. I”
― D.P. Prior, Thanatos Rising

“My people say the answer to fear is love, and yet we still have a use for arrows.” “I”
― D.P. Prior, The Unweaving

“Most people are like iron.” He reached over his shoulder and tapped the pommel of the sword hanging from his chair. “The years weaken them, morally and physically. Rust sets in—flaws and decay. You, young Shader, must be like steel.”
― D.P. Prior, Ward of the Philosopher: Shader Origins

“Good thing we have the Templum to separate out right from wrong, uh? What a mess the world would be in, if we were free to act as we pleased; free to choose our leaders and think our own thoughts.” Elpidio”
― D.P. Prior, Sword of the Archon

“A dark orb hung above them in the crepuscular”
― D.P. Prior, Ravine of Blood and Shadow

“I may not share your faith, lad, but the Templum brings order out of chaos, and sometimes order comes at the tip of a sword.” “But,”
― D.P. Prior, Ward of the Philosopher: Shader Origins

“Whatever you do, whatever happens next, you must not abandon hope.”
― Derek Prior, Gate of Evil

“A man is the sum of his parents, and a great man is the sum of all he learns and experiences without them.”
― D.P. Prior, Ward of the Philosopher: Shader Origins

“Do you Quilonians still vote for your leaders?” The idea had always struck Shader as bizarre: entrusting the governance of a country to the whims of an uneducated mob. No sense in it. No continuity. Not to mention that a canny would-be tyrant could easily hoodwink the masses into electing him. It was one small step from freedom to dictatorship. “Don’t”
― D.P. Prior, Sword of the Archon

“These things are mysteries—not because they can’t be explained, but because they only come to us a bit at a time.”
― D.P. Prior, Best Laid Plans

“A gangplank was lowered, and men came lumbering down it. They were dressed in rags beneath rusted mail. Some wore helms that bore the dents of the blows that had killed them. For there was no doubt these reavers were dead, even though they were moving.”
― D.P. Prior, Ward of the Philosopher: Shader Origins

“It was as if Blightey had to go on teaching others and then torturing them to death in order to generate some spark of pleasure in his life.”
― D.P. Prior, Best Laid Plans

“You must be tempered, young Shader. Trained body and soul, so that you are hard as steel and pure as a dove. And your mind,” he added with a jab of his pipe to Deacon’s forehead, “must be a sword against the world.” A”
― D.P. Prior, Ward of the Philosopher: Shader Origins