Khodor Ammar > Khodor's Quotes

“Someone coughed nearby, from some huddle of stones, and then spoke. ‘So, who are we fighting for again?’
Fiddler could not place the voice.
Nor the one that replied, ‘Everyone.’
A long pause, and then, ‘No wonder we’re losing.”
― Steven Erikson, The Crippled God

“He was not a modest man. Contemplating suicide, he summoned a dragon.'
Gothos' Folly”
― Steven Erikson, The Crippled God

“There was a tale he had read once, long ago, as a small boy: the story of a traveler who had slipped down a cliff, with man-eating tigers above him and a lethal fall below him, who managed to stop his fall halfway down the side of the cliff, holding on for dear life. There was a clump of strawberries beside him, and certain death above him and below. What should he do? went the question.

And the reply was, Eat the strawberries.

The story had never made sense to him as a boy. It did now.”
― Neil Gaiman, American Gods

“... a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

“Don't Panic.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

“The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams. It is alive as dreams are alive, more real than real ... for a moment at least ... that long magic moment before we wake.

Fantasy is silver and scarlet, indigo and azure, obsidian veined with gold and lapis lazuli. Reality is plywood and plastic, done up in mud brown and olive drab. Fantasy tastes of habaneros and honey, cinnamon and cloves, rare red meat and wines as sweet as summer. Reality is beans and tofu, and ashes at the end. Reality is the strip malls of Burbank, the smokestacks of Cleveland, a parking garage in Newark. Fantasy is the towers of Minas Tirith, the ancient stones of Gormenghast, the halls of Camelot. Fantasy flies on the wings of Icarus, reality on Southwest Airlines. Why do our dreams become so much smaller when they finally come true?

We read fantasy to find the colors again, I think. To taste strong spices and hear the songs the sirens sang. There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La.

They can keep their heaven. When I die, I'd sooner go to middle Earth.”
― George R.R. Martin

“The truth is that the world is full of dragons, and none of us are as powerful or cool as we’d like to be. And that sucks. But when you’re confronted with that fact, you can either crawl into a hole and quit, or you can get out there, take off your shoes, and Bilbo it up.”
― Patrick Rothfuss

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
― Steve Jobs

“وما أن يُعلن البيت البيض في واشنطن عن عودة الماء الى بيروت الغربية حتى
يهب المحاصرون الى حنفياتهم إلانحن...نحن سكان هذه البناية العالية_
العالية الى اعلى نداء العطش.فقد حاصرنا صاحبها قبل حصار بيروت بسنين،
منذ انحلَّت السلطة فجُنَّ هو بسلطته:السلطة على الماء،
ما إن يتشاجرمع أحد المسأجرين أو مع زوجته،أو مع حسابه في البنك،
حتى يهب الى قطع الماء عنا جميعاً،
لذلك ربَّى فينا الصبر على الماء ربى فينا مدائح الماء.
وعلَّمنا ان نفرح بالماء حين يتدفق ساعة كما لم تفرح به قبائل داحس،
وحوّلَنا الى حراس انابيب ،نتجسس منذ الفجر على صوت الماء المرتقب.
وحين نسمع غرغرة الماء نعلن العيد ونجمع ما تهبنا رحمته من الاواني
والقناني والصحون والكؤوس وفي جيوب المعاطف الجلدية،
فالماء في هذه البناية كنز نُجللِّه بالطقوس،ونتحدث عن سيرته في سهراتنا
لقد وحَّدنا الماء والحديث هنه وجعلنا عائلة واحدة.
ولكن صاحب البناية يغار من شارون وينافسه في السادية.
فحين تبتهج بيروت الغربية بالإفراج عن الماء .....
نكتفي بدور التضامن،لأن هذه البهجة لا تشملنا ولأنَّ الماء لا يصل الينا.
نحن آخر الأسرى يا أبا ربيع.
اغفر لنا ذنوباُ لم نرتكبها ياأبا ربيع.
الدنيا حرب يا أبا ربيع.
والعفو عند المقدرةيا أبا ربيع،
وما مِن سميع وما من شفيع.
إلى أن إضررت الى الاستعانة باللجان الشعبية المسلحة التي أفرجت عن الماء بقوة.
فنسينا الحرب ونسينا الحصار من فرط ما فرحنا بالماء”
― Mahmoud Darwish, ذاكرة للنسيان

“The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday—but never jam to-day.”
“It must come sometimes to ‘jam to-day,’” Alice objected.
“No, it ca’n’t,” said the Queen. “It’s jam every other day: to-day isn’t any other day, you know”
― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There

“Have you no thoughts on the matter?" Blushweaver finally asked.
"I try to avoid having thoughts. They lead to other thoughts, and-if you're not careful-those lead to actions.
Actions make you tired. I have this on rather good authority from someone who once read it in a book."
Blushweaver sighed. "You avoid thinking, you avoid me, you avoid effort... is there anything you don't
avoid?"
"Breakfast.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Warbreaker

“What I'm trying to say is that you don't understand a man until you understand what makes him do what he does. Every man is a hero in his own story, Princess. Murderers don't believe that they're to blame for what they do. Thieves, they think they deserve the money they take. Dictators, they believe they have the right—for the safety of their people and the good of the nation—to do whatever they wish. . . . The truth is, most people who do what you'd call "wrong" do it for what they call "right" reasons. Only mercenaries make any sense. We do what we're paid to do. That's it. Perhaps that's why people look down on us so. We're the only ones who don't pretend to have higher motives. . . In a way, we're the most honest men you'll ever meet.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Warbreaker

“This is crazy', said Shadow.
Like the rest of your life is sane? Give me a fucking break.”
― Neil Gaiman, American Gods

“Some men, as they age, grow kinder. I am not one of those, for I have seen how the cosmere can mistreat the innocent - and that leaves me disinclined toward kindness. Some men, as they age, grow wiser. I am not one of those, for wisdom and I have always been at cross-purposes, and I have yet to learn the tongue in which she speaks. Some men, as they age, grow more cynical. I, fortunately, am not one of those. If I were, the very air would warp around me, sucking in all emotion, leaving only scorn.
Other men...other men, as they age, merely grow stranger. I fear that I am one of those. I am the bones of a foreign species left drying on the plain that was once, long ago, a sea. A curiosity, perhaps a reminder, that all has not always been as it is now.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer

“First in , Last out.


Motto of the bridgeburners”
― Steven Erikson, Memories of Ice

“Write the following: "Private missive, from Lieutenant Master-Sergeant Field Quartermaster Pores, to Fist Kindly. Warmest salutations and congratulations on your promotion, sir. As one might observe from your advancement and, indeed, mine, cream doth rise, etc. In as much as I am ever delighted in corresponding with you, discussing all maner of subjects in all possible idioms, alas, this subject is rather more official in nature. In short, we are faced with a crisis of the highest order. Accordignly, I humbly seek your advice and would suggest we arrange a most private meeting at the earliest convenience. Yours affectionately, Pores." Got that, Himble?'
'Yes sir'
'Please read it back to me.'
'"Pores to Kindly meet in secret when?"'
'Excellent, Dispatch at once, Himble”
― Steven Erikson, The Crippled God