James Islington > Quotes

“That's the problem with people, though, isn't it? They always think that other people are the problem... If all you're trying to do is change who's in control, they you don't really want to change anything.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many. La volontà dei molti

“They ask something small of you. A thing you would prefer not to do, but is not so terrible. You think you are working your way up, but in fact they are changing you. Moulding you into what they think you should be, one compromise at a time.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many. La volontà dei molti

“Grief, my mother once told me, is love’s most honest expression. The last and hardest aspect of truly, truly caring for someone. She said it at her own mother’s funeral rites, tears in her eyes even as she tried to comfort a boy too young to understand why he was so sad, why his grandmother couldn’t be there anymore. She explained through choking sobs that without grief, love would be meaningless. Because it is impossible to truly love something that cannot be lost.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“A society cannot make a man a monster, Diago. But it can give him the excuse to become one.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“The oldest argument for doing something wrong is that everyone is doing it. To dismantle what they have built would have required the agreement of every man who had spent his life building it," agrees my father softly. "It would have required them to give up all they have striven their entire lives to gain. And they would have needed to do it, largely, for the benefit of those at whose expense it originally came.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“...without grief, love would be meaningless. Because it is impossible to truly love something that cannot be lost.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“Rule a man, and he will do whatever you can imagine. Befriend him, and he will do more.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“The Academy's a perfect example of what he talks about: we're meant to be the brightest of the Republic, but almost all of us here are the children of senators and knights. We've been trained, educated, since we could walk. Of course we're going to be 'better' than som fifth son of an Octavus who's been ceding half his life, just so his family can get by. Especially at tests which are devised by the same people who trained us. Who decide what merit is.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many. La volontà dei molti

“Poor luck is being aware of these currents, but able only to drown in them”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“A father is a man who loves you, no matter what. Not all of us can have one.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“When you have lived your whole life within the greatest empire of your time, it is hard to believe it will end.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“Know your line." It is a good advice for a son. For a man, even. But for a father? To protect our sons, there is no line we will not cross.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“A pain promised is often worse than pain itself.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“Instead of the easy gift of our lives, we must suffer the hundred little deaths of self in order to protect this world. Not because what we do is good, but because good will no longer exist if we do not.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“I'm going to make sure you burn for this.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“It is unpleasant, but this is the world you and I live in, now. Men must be bought or compelled, rather than relied upon to do the right thing.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“He's a good man. Trying to be better. Trying to come to terms with the fact that he lived his entire life believing a lie.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“A system built on promise, and therefore on greed.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“The power to protect is the highest responsibility.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“I AM the godsdamn crocodile.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“Nervousness means there’s a fear to be faced ahead, Diago. The man who is never nervous, never does anything hard. The man who is never nervous, never grows.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“Silence is a statement, Diago. Inaction picks a side. And when those lead to personal benefit, they are complicity.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many. La volontà dei molti

“Innocent? Those people out there?... You think an Octavus who gives his Will is somehow less responsible than the Sextus who kills with it? The weak and poor endure in the Hierarchy because the alternatives are harder, not because there are none. They know the system is wrong, but they choose not to think or speak up or act because they ultimately hope that in their silence, they will gain. Or at the very least no have to give more than they have already given.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many. La volontà dei molti

“What justification could a person possibly give themselves before handing over their very Will to the nebulous control of the Republic? Everyone over there must be facile. Blind. Cowards. Probably all three.
We knew the truth, of course. Had been subjected to a hundred lectures dissecting why people submitted to the Hierarchy. Fear, naturally, played its part—but not always. Sometimes it was greed loosely masquerading as ambition. Sometimes it was misplaced faith that others would behave fairly and rightly. Or social pressure, the inevitable belief that the majority cannot be wrong. The reasons were complex and many-faceted and unavoidably varied from person to person. But we never mentioned those during our childish vents as we watched the sun set over the domain of our enemy. Easier to despise than understand. Easier to mock than empathise.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“I don't like it either but when power is so entrenched, so impossibly distant, blood becomes the only possible currency of change.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“My father once told me that men become their choices, not their intentions. I wonder what he would say to me now.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“A fair system only works if there's an unbiased means of assessing merit. When there is no pride it selfishness involved." He gives a soft snort, shaking his head. "Which means that fair systems cannot exist where people are involved.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many. La volontà dei molti

“But a broken blade can still cut, Diago.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“everyone has a darker nature, Caeden. everyone. Good men fear it, and evil men embrace it”
― James Islington

“Death is only meaningless if it does not change us, Vis.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many