Ronnie > Ronnie's Quotes

“I've seen enough to know that you can be a human with a mountain of resources and you can be a human with nothing, and you can be a monster either way.”
― Clemantine Wamariya, The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After

“People need history in order to know themselves, to build a sense of identity and pride, continuity, community, and hope for the future.”
― Douglas Preston, The Lost City of the Monkey God

“We live in a world gone crazy for resources. Everybody on Google Earth can look at this place now. If you don’t move to protect it, it will disappear. Everything in the world is vulnerable.”
― Douglas Preston, The Lost City of the Monkey God

“But all was not well; a creeping rot—environmental, economic, and social—had been undermining its society for some time and would eventually lead to destruction.”
― Douglas Preston, The Lost City of the Monkey God

“I live for the dream that my children will be born free. That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.'
'I live for you,' I say sadly.
She kisses my cheek. 'Then you must live for more.”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“My love, my love
Remember the cries
When winter died for spring skies
They roared and roared
But we grabbed our seed
And sowed a song
Against their greed

And
Down in the vale
Hear the reaper swing, the reaper swing
the reaper swing
Down in the vale
Hear the reaper sing
A tale of winter done

My son, my son
Remember the chains
When gold ruled with iron reins
We roared and roared
And twisted and screamed
For ours, a vale
of better dreams”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“Break the chains, my love.”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“Without me, she would not eat. Without her, I would not live.”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“Look into yourself, Darrow, and you’ll
realize that you are a good man who will have to do bad things."....
“See. That’s what I don’t get. If I am a good man, then why do I want to do bad
things?”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“They pushed and pushed for so long. They knew I was something dangerous, something different. Sooner or later, they had to know I would snap and come to cut them down. Or perhaps they think I'm still a child. The fools. Alexander was a child when he ruined his first nation.”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“Death isn't empty like you say it is. Emptiness is life without freedom, Darrow. Emptiness is living chained by fear, fear of loss, of death. I say we break those chains. Break the chains of fear and you break the chains that bind us to the Golds, to the Society. Could you imagine it? Mars could be ours. It could belong to the colonists who slaved here, died here." Her face is easier to see as the night fades through the clear roof. It is alive, on fire. "If you led the others to freedom. The things you could do, Darrow. The things you could make happen." She pauses and I see her eyes are glistening. "It chills me. You have been given so, so much, but you set your sights so low."
"You repeat the same damn points," I say bitterly. "You think a dream is worth dying for. I say it isn't. You say it's better to die on your feet. I say it's better to live on our knees."
"You're not even listening!" she snaps. "We are machine men with machine minds, machine lives …"
"And machine hearts?" I ask. "That's what I am?"
"Darrow …"
"What do you live for?" I ask her suddenly. "Is it for me? Is it for family and love? Or is it just for some dream?"
"It's not just some dream, Darrow. I live for the dream that my children will be born free. That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them."
"I live for you," I say sadly.
She kisses my cheek. "Then you must live for more.”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“ 'I killed their pack leader,' Sevro says when I ask why the wolves follow him. He looks me up and down and flashes me an impish grin from beneath the wolf pelt. 'Don't worry, I wouldn't fit in your skin.' ”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“I am no martyr. I am not vengeance. I am Eo's dream.”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“All wounds heal. Even these."
"That's a lie." I tell him.
I'll never be healed of Eo. That pain will last forever.
"Some things do not fade. Some things can never be made right.”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“The fleas would jump and jump to heights unknown. Then a man came along and upturned a glass jar over the fleas. The fleas jumped and hit the top of the jar and could go no farther. Then the man removed the jar and yet the fleas did not jump higher than they had grown accustomed, because they believed there to still be a glass ceiling.”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“June!” I call out. She turns into my stunpike and shudders as the electricity dumbs down her muscles. That’s how I steal their cook.
Cassius finds me running with June over my shoulder through their gardens.
“What the hell?”
“She’s a cook!” I explain.
He laughs so hard he can barely breathe.”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“She will not come back, but her beauty, her voice, will echo until the end of time. She believed in something beyond herself, and her death gave her voice power it didn't have in life.”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“You have made me give up the hair Father gave me, the eyes Mother left me, the Color I was born to, so I will keep the name they granted me, and you can make it work.”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“I stand over them and cock my head. 'Is this the first time you've lost at something?' No answer. I frown. 'Well, that must be embarrassing.' ”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“Life is the most effective school ever created. Once upon a time they made children bow their heads and read books. It would take ages to get anything across." He taps his head. "But we have widgets and datapads now, and we Golds have the lower Colors to do our research. We need not study chemistry or physics. We have computers and others to do that. What we must study is humanity. In order to rule, ours must be the study of political, psychological, and behavioral science - how desperate human beings react to one another, how packs form, how armies function, how things fall apart and why. You could learn this nowhere else but here.”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“My people sing, we dance, we love. That is our strength. But we also dig. And then we die. Seldom do we get to choose why. That choice is power. That choice has been our only weapon. But it is not enough.”
― Pierce Brown, Red Rising

“Home isn't where you're from, it's where you find light when all grows dark.”
― Pierce Brown, Golden Son

“Friendships take minutes to make, moments to break, years to repair.”
― Pierce Brown, Golden Son

“I will die. You will die. We will all die and the universe will carry on without care. All that we have is that shout into the wind - how we live. How we go. And how we stand before we fall.”
― Pierce Brown, Golden Son

“Liars make the best promises.”
― Pierce Brown, Golden Son

“Wise men read books about history. Strong men write them.”
― Pierce Brown, Golden Son

“It's not victory that makes a man. It's his defeats.”
― Pierce Brown, Golden Son

“You're a sinister little shit, aren't you?" Victra asks.
"I'm Gold, bitch. What'd you expect? Warm milk and cookies just because I'm pocket sized?”
― Pierce Brown, Golden Son

“Everyone's honest till they're caught in a lie.”
― Pierce Brown, Golden Son

“We are not our station in life. We are us - the sum of what we've done, what we want to do, and the people who we keep close.”
― Pierce Brown, Golden Son