Samuel Ayers

“Real Japanese sword fights often ended after a very brief struggle lasting no more than half a second to two seconds. By the time the swords had clashed but once, one side had already fallen in a pool of blood. But before this moment, the opponents stared at each other like statues, sometimes for as long as ten minutes. During this contest, the swordsman’s weapon wasn’t held by the hands, but by his heart. The heart-sword, transformed through the eyes into the gaze, stabbed into the depths of the enemy’s soul. The real winner was determined during this process: In the silence suspended between the two swordsmen, the blades of their spirits parried and stabbed as soundless claps of thunder. Before a single blow was struck, victory, defeat, life, and death had already been decided.”
― Liu Cixin, Remembrance of Earth's Past: The Three-Body Trilogy

“Only through imitation do we develop toward originality”
― John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley: In Search of America

“In this a journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. I feel better now, having said this, although only those who have experienced it will understand it.”
― John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley: In Search of America

“This monster of a land, this mightiest of nations, this spawn of the future, turns out to be the macrocosm of microcosm me.”
― John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley: In Search of America