Tristan Maxwell

“Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

“.., by universal custom, your enemy is never more polite than when he is planning or has planned your destruction.”
― James Clavell, Shōgun

“He remembered the pride-filled glow that had swamped Gyoko's face and he wondered again at the bewildering gullibility of people. How baffling it was that even the most cunning and clever people would frequently see only what they wanted to see, and would rarely look beyond the thinnest of facades. Or they would ignore reality, dismissing it as the facade. And then, when their whole world fell to pieces and they were on their knees slitting their bellies or cutting their throats, or cast out into the freezing world, they would tear their topknots or rend their clothes and bewail their karma, blaming gods or kami or luck or their lords or husbands or vassals -- anything or anything -- but never themselves.”
― James Clavell, Shōgun

“How beautiful life is and how sad! How fleeting, with no past and no future, only a limitless now.”
― James Clavell, Shōgun