James Islington > Quotes

“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

“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

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

“There comes a point in every man’s life where he can rail against the unfairness of the world until he loses, or he can do his best in it. Remain a victim, or become a survivor.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“The decision may have been made by the few, Diago, but it’s the Will of the many that killed your family.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“All that I wanted, I received
All that I dreamed, I achieved
All that I feared, I conquered
All that I hated, I destroyed
All that I loved, I saved
And so, I lay down my head weary with despair, for
All that I needed, I lost”
― James Islington, The Shadow of What Was Lost

“A fair system only works if there’s an unbiased means of assessing merit. When there is no pride or 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

“The lesser of two evils, or the greater good. Get a good man to utter either of those phrases, and there is no one more eager to begin perpetrating evil.”
― James Islington, An Echo of Things to Come

“You can put your trust in something that’s obvious, that’s measurable or predictable - but that's not faith. Nor is believing in something that gives you no pause for doubt, no reason or desire to question. Faith is something more than that. By definition, it cannot have proof as its foundation.”
― James Islington, The Shadow Of What Was Lost

“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 not have to give more than they have already given.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“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

“I’m telling you that you should doubt—as I do my own beliefs. The day on which you decide not to question what you believe, is the day that you start making excuses for why you believe it.”
― James Islington, An Echo of Things to Come

“AND LET THERE BE NO MISTAKE: IT IS YOU—ALL OF YOU—WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATING IT. NOT THOSE IN POWER. NOT THE ONES WHO WIELD WHAT YOU GIVE THEM, BECAUSE YOU GIVE IT TO THEM. YOU LET THEM STAND ON YOUR SHOULDERS, ALL FOR THE DREAM OF ONE DAY BEING ABLE TO STAND ATOP OTHERS’. EVEN WHEN YOU KNOW, DEEP DOWN, THAT IT IS AN ILLUSION. AS UNATTAINABLE FOR MOST OF YOU AS IT IS SELFISH.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“CHAIN YOUR ANGER IN THE dark, my mother used to tell me, and it will only thrive.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“But I can hate without it coming to violence.” “Hate is its own violence, my prince. Your only choice is whether to let it hurt them, or you.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“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

“The power to protect is the highest of responsibilities, Diago. When a man is given it, his duty is not only to the people he thinks are worthy.”
― 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, The Shadow of What Was Lost

“Faithful people suffer and evil people prosper all the time [...]. Besides, if our actions are driven only by reward or punishment--eternal or otherwise--then they are motivated by greed and selfishness, not faith or love. That is where so many people go wrong, even those who say they believe [...]. They obey because the think it will make their *lives* better, rather than *themselves*. And that is very much the wrong reason.”
― James Islington, The Light of All That Falls

“Violence is no answer to grief,”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“The people with whom we are friends should never affect our morality;rather, our morality should affect with whom we are friends.”
― James Islington, An Echo of Things to Come

“Greed is by definition the moral ruler of the Hierarchy, Diago. All decisions are based upon it. It is not the strong who benefit in their system, no matter what they say—it is the weak. It is the ones willing to do anything, sacrifice anything, to rise. It rewards avarice and is so steeped in a wrong way of thinking that those within it cannot even see it.” He shook his head sadly. “There is no form of government that is immune from mistakes or from corruption—but it is the Hierarchy’s foundation, Son. Never forget that.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“Evil men rarely convince others to their side by asking them to perform dark deeds for no good reason. They will always start with the lightest shade of gray. They so often use what seems like a good cause."

"You don't think it's possible that a little gray is what's needed, sometimes?" asked Davian.

Raleth snorted.

"No," he said severely. "Gray is the color of cowardice and ignorance and sheer laziness, Davian--never let anyone tell you otherwise. If something is not clearly right or wrong then it bears actually *figuring out* which one it is, not dismissal into some nebulous third category. If you have a basis for your morality, a foundation for it, then there will always be an answer--and if you do not, then trying to decide whether *anything* is right or wrong is an exercise in futility and irrelevance.”
― James Islington, The Light of All That Falls

“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 needs of the many will always be loud.” He leans forward. Hooked nose inches from mine. “But in the end, it is only the strength of the few that matters.”
― James Islington, The Strength of the Few

“It’s not enough to fight for the right side. You have to figure out how to fight the right way, too. If winning is truly all that matters, then we’ve lost sight of what’s actually right and wrong in the first place.”
― James Islington, The Light of All That Falls

“For I did not know which was harder to bear: The echo of her passing, or the long silence that followed.”
― James Islington, An Echo of Things to Come

“Victims can still be enemies.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“Don’t mistake inaction for neutrality.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

“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