Ishmael

“All you ever see is a part of someone’s life”
― Mark Lawrence, Daughter of Crows

“It is one thing to admit to being feared, or hated. Quite another to admit that you are unloved, and lonely, and that it is taking all your strength to hide it.”
― Antonia Hodgson, The Raven Scholar

“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

“Strict limits on his conversation would be set”
― Tom Holland, Persian Fire: The First World Empire, Battle for the West - 'Magisterial' Books of the Year, Independent