“It can be crazy hard. To keep your faith, to keep going. It can be harder than I ever would have imagined. Sometimes things happen to you, really bad things that aren't fair, things that make you feel so terrible you're not even sure who you are anymore or whether you're right or wrong, good or bad. Sometimes you feel like there's no one to turn to, and you're all alone and so scared you can hardly move and so tired you just want to curl up in a ball and go to sleep forever. I guess that's kind of the way Alex felt that last night I saw him. And that's the way I felt now. But I guess I had one advantage over Alex. I guess in some way I'd been training for this time my whole life. I'd been training every day, even in simple things, little things. I trained to keep my mind sharp when I went to school. I trained in karate to keep my body and spirit strong. Even when I just went to church, or when I prayed by myself, it was a kind of training: I was training to remember that I was not alone. I was never alone.”
―
―
“Faith with proof is no faith at all.”
― The Ask and the Answer
― The Ask and the Answer
“Theoretically, let's stipulate, for argument's sake, that there are a lot of powerful people at a university like this who believe things that aren't, strictly speaking, true."
Leftists, you mean."
Let's just call them people. Powerful people."
All right."
These powerful people believe things like: One culture is as good as another. Or, there's no such thing as good and evil. Therefore, if America is at odds or at war with someone, it must be America's fault. You only have to think about those statements for two minutes to see that they can't possibly be true. But these people think they should be true and they think they'll seem to be true if no one is allowed to say they're not true. So they attack anyone who says that they're not true. They call him names. Racist, sexist, phobic, offensive, whatever. They demand apologies from him. They make his life a misery, so no one wants to speak up."
So it's like the emperor's new clothes."
Right. Except instead of clothes, it's all the emperor's lies. And in an Empire of Lies, only a crazy man would speak the truth.”
―
Leftists, you mean."
Let's just call them people. Powerful people."
All right."
These powerful people believe things like: One culture is as good as another. Or, there's no such thing as good and evil. Therefore, if America is at odds or at war with someone, it must be America's fault. You only have to think about those statements for two minutes to see that they can't possibly be true. But these people think they should be true and they think they'll seem to be true if no one is allowed to say they're not true. So they attack anyone who says that they're not true. They call him names. Racist, sexist, phobic, offensive, whatever. They demand apologies from him. They make his life a misery, so no one wants to speak up."
So it's like the emperor's new clothes."
Right. Except instead of clothes, it's all the emperor's lies. And in an Empire of Lies, only a crazy man would speak the truth.”
―
“It's not that you should never love something so much that it can control you.
It's that you need to love something that much so you can never be controlled.
It's not a weakness.
It's your best strength.”
― The Ask and the Answer
It's that you need to love something that much so you can never be controlled.
It's not a weakness.
It's your best strength.”
― The Ask and the Answer
“To say you have no choice is to relieve yourself of responsibility.”
― Monsters of Men
― Monsters of Men
Emma’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Emma’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Emma
Lists liked by Emma







![[(Mother Goose )] [Author by Gyo Fujikawa [(Mother Goose )] [Author by Gyo Fujikawa](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1696874429l/133825931._SX50_.jpg)
















