Kevin Xu

“But nothing lasts, not even stone, not even despair.”
― Kim Stanley Robinson, Green Mars

“Although mercenaries are paid to fight, they spend only a tiny fraction of their time actually fighting. The average life expectancy of a mercenary is lower than in most professions, but if they were to go into battle every day, few would be expected to last more than a week or two,
The great majority of a mercenary's tie is spent waiting. Travelling comes a distant second. Fighting a very distant third. And all that waiting needs filling with distraction. Which in part accounts for how good mercenaries are at taking prisoners. A prisoner who can be ransomed provides money, and money is the reason most mercenaries claim to do what they do. A prisoner who can't be ransomed provides entertainment, filling those empty days when there would otherwise be nothing else to do but sharpen blades and think about the battles to come.”
― Mark Lawrence, Daughter of Crows

“There are endings. There are beginnings. Sometimes they coincide, with the ending of one thing marking the beginning of another. But sometimes there is a simply a long space after an ending, a time when it seems everything has ended and nothing else can ever begin.”
― Robin Hobb, Fool's Assassin

“Fucking shit! Of all the fucked-up, shitty, damn fucking assholes...Why?”
― Ilona Andrews, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me