Ruthanna Emrys > Quotes

“Even the most ill-formed words, set to paper, are a great blessing.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, Winter Tide

“Odd how automatic masks are, even with those who’ve seen beneath them.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, Winter Tide

“All of man’s other religions place him at the center of creation. But man is nothing—a fraction of the life that will walk the Earth. Earth is nothing—a tiny world that will die with its sun. The sun is one of trillions where life flowers, and wants to live, and dies. And between the suns is an endless vast darkness that dwarfs them, through which life can travel only by giving up that wanting, by losing itself. Even that darkness will eventually die. In such a universe, knowledge is the stub of a candle at dusk.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, The Litany of Earth

“If magic violates the fundamental laws of nature, they clearly weren't all that fundamental.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, Winter Tide

“What our religion tells us, the part that is a religion, is that the gods created life to try and make meaning. It’s ultimately hopeless, and even gods die, but the effort is real. Will always have been real, even when everything is over and no one remembers.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, The Litany of Earth

“It is written in the Archives that, once upon a time, the gods looked out on a universe barren and unthinking save for themselves. And they tested and experimented until they sparked matter into a form that might, one day, be capable of thought. And Shub-Nigaroth, mother of fear, looked on the first life and said: it will fail, but for now it is good. Spector”
― Ruthanna Emrys, Winter Tide

“There are different ways of understanding the universe, and you learn nothing by running an experiment if a spell or a sculpture is what’s needed. And there are things we’ll never understand because we don’t have the time, or the right sorts of minds.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, Winter Tide

“If you can’t ask questions, you can’t learn,”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden

“The bridges, aeons old, were here when we arrived. They offered omen and reminder: Life persists everywhere. Life vanishes everywhere. Find it and listen, or it will pass unknown.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, Deep Roots

“On Earth, people like her had never given in—only died and made way for those more willing to listen,”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden

“Surely one’s childhood concerns must be hard to encounter decades later, regardless of the life fallen between.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, Winter Tide

“I couldn’t shake the simple pleasure of getting to know a set of new, interesting people.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden

“But risk aversion isn’t a strong enough value to live on.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden

“The power that can be found in magic is less than what you get from a gun, or a badge, or a bomb. [...] What magic is for is understanding. Knowledge. And it won't work until you know how little that gets you.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, The Litany of Earth

“All of man’s other religions place him at the center of creation. But man is nothing—a fraction of the life that will walk the Earth. Earth is nothing—a tiny world that will die with its sun. The sun is one of trillions where life flowers, and wants to live, and dies. And between the suns is an endless vast darkness that dwarfs them, through which life can travel only by giving up that wanting, by losing itself. Even that darkness will eventually die. In such a universe, knowledge is the stub of a candle at dusk.” “You make it all sound so cheerful.” “It’s honest. What our religion tells us, the part that is a religion, is that the gods created life to try and make meaning. It’s ultimately hopeless, and even gods die, but the effort is real. Will always have been real, even when everything is over and no one remembers.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, The Litany of Earth

“So how does the United States of America relate to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Network?” Rhamnetin asked. Right. Awkward questions. Bakkalian smiled sweetly and said, “Technically, this is U.S. territory. A national park. We’re sorry we didn’t get here earlier to welcome you properly.” “The Chesapeake doesn’t claim specific territory,” I said. “We claim our actions. We take care of everything in the watershed, every place where the river acts.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden

“We should tell them that no matter what you do to us, we survive. And we remember who we are.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden

“I wish you could see our fireworks,” said Glycine. “They’re spectacular, big enough to watch from dozens of habitats at once.” Dinar laughed. “Beautiful explosions must be a universal art form.” Rhamnetin shrugged, bobbing on his chairs. “Fire is the first step toward technology. Who wouldn’t make art with it?”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden

“And then—in one of the common five-and-dime notebooks, familiar handwriting indeed. My own, my childhood scrawl. I clasped the book against me, afraid to look, then did so anyway. The first entries were from 1923; I'd been seven. My script was still shaky, wavered above and below lines as it complained of Caleb's infant irritations and exulted over classroom triumphs and favored desserts. My spelling was excellent. I wanted to curl around myself or cry; I did neither, though my whole body felt taut with the distance between myself and myself.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, Winter Tide

“The power that can be found in magic is less than what you get from a gun, or a badge, or a bomb.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, The Litany of Earth

“Aeonist teachings say that no race is clean of such ignorance or violence. When faced with the threat of such things, we should strive as the gods do to prevent them or put them off. But when faced with such things already past, we should recall the vastness of time, and know that even our worst pains are trivial at such a scale.” His mouth twisted. “Does that help?” I shrugged. “Sometimes. Sometimes I can’t help seeing our resistance and kindness, even the gods’ own efforts to hold back entropy, as trivial too. No one denies it, but we need the gods, and the kindness, to matter more anyway.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, Winter Tide

“Worlds aren’t meant to support technological species.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden

“They're nothing but dangerous questions.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden

“Rhamnetin shrugged, bobbing on his chairs. “Fire is the first step toward technology. Who wouldn’t make art with it?”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden

“I swear, their idea of a fun party is challenging everyone to a duel by dawn.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden

“History was long, and life short,”
― Ruthanna Emrys, Winter Tide

“I trust you to do what you think is right. That’s how I trust most people.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden

“Late-night epiphanies rarely stand up to scrutiny.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, The Word of Flesh and Soul

“We all try to give gifts to the future.... It doesn't mean they'll use them the way we envision, or even in ways we'd approve of. You have to give gifts lightly-that's one of my values. ... Because my parents loved what I was more than they loved their guess about what I'd be ... they were willing to let me use it in a way they didn't expect.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden

“Our destiny is in the stars, even if we have to launch from the ashes of a world.”
― Ruthanna Emrys, A Half-Built Garden