Ishmael

“A warrior must strive toward perfection, knowing full well that it will forever be unobtainable.”
― Raymond E. Feist, Servant of the Empire

“Of all the unthinkable events in his life, the fact that the universe had put him beside this woman felt the most unlikely.”
― James S.A. Corey, The Mercy of Gods

“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

“She made a fool of me.”
“And who’s not a fool? Who gets from the birthing chair to the grave
with dignity? What prize do the gods hand out to people who never let
themselves care about anything enough to be disappointed by the loss?
Look around you, Captain. Everyone who laughs at you or cringes away?
They’re all thinking of some time when it was them. Some race they ran
and came in last, someone they wooed who didn’t want them, some
moment of glory they reached for and wound up with an empty hand for the
trouble. We’re all fools. Everyone. That’s why we hate fools so much.
They’re the echoes of when we were vulnerable in front of the world
ourselves, and that’s hard for us to forgive.”
― Daniel Abraham, Blade of Dream