Oliver

“It is true that no nation, and no historian can tell a story that completely encompasses every aspect of the truth. But it is not true that just because all narratives are constructed, that they are equally far from the truth. The Earth is neither a perfect sphere nor a flat disk, but the model of the sphere is much closer to the truth. ...The fact that we can never have complete, perfect knowledge does not absolve us of the moral duty to judge and take a stand against evil.”
― Ken Liu, The Paper Menagerie

“Is it the war that’s done it to you? 
It’s all war, she said. What is? I don’t know. Everythin. Raisin a family, keepin yer head above water. Life. War is our natural state.”
― Tim Winton, Cloudstreet

“In an extraordinary time, he faced extraordinary choices, and maybe some would say this means we cannot judge him. But how can we really judge anyone except in the most extraordinary of circumstances? It's easy to be civilized and display a patina of orderliness in calm times, but your true character only emerges in darkness and under great pressure”
― Ken Liu, The Paper Menagerie

“Do you see, Arren, how an act is not, as young men think, like a rock that one picks up and throws, and it hits or misses, and that's the end of it. When that rock is lifted the earth is lighter, the hand that bears it heavier. When it is thrown the circuits of the stars respond, and where it strikes or falls the universe is changed.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore