Krishnakumar Sankaran

“Jean grinned down at her, and she handed him something in a small silk bag.
'What's this?'
'Lock of my hair, ' she said. 'Meant to give it to you days ago, but we got busy with all the raiding. You know. Piracy. Hectic life. '
'Thank you, love, ' he said.
'Now, if you find yourself in trouble wherever you go, you can hold up that little bag to whoever's bothering you, and you can say, "You have no idea who you're fucking with. I'm under the protection of the lady who gave me this object of her favour. "'
'And that's supposed to make them stop?'
'Shit no, that's just to confuse them. Then you kill them while they're standing there looking at you funny.”
― Scott Lynch, Red Seas Under Red Skies

“We actually killed the thing.”
“Sad, I know,” she said, feeling depressed. “It was beautiful.”
“It would be more beautiful if it hadn't tried to eat me.”
“From my perspective,” Shallan noted, “it didn't try, it succeeded.”
“Nonsense,” Kaladin said. “It didn't manage to swallow me. Doesn't count.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance

“I certainly believe we all suffer damage, one way or another. How could we not,except in a world of perfect parents, siblings, neighbours, companions? And then there is the question on which so much depends, of how we react to the damage: whether we admit it or repress it,and how this affects our dealings with others.Some admit the damage, and try to mitigate it;some spend their lives trying to help others who are damaged; and there are those whose main concern is to avoid further damage to themselves, at whatever cost. And those are the ones who are ruthless, and the ones to be careful of.”
― Julian Barnes , The Sense of an Ending

“Something is either right or it’s wrong,” Dalinar said, feeling stubborn. “The Almighty doesn't come into it.”
“God,” Navani said flatly, “doesn't come into whether his commands are right or wrong.”
“Er. Yes.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance