Cytonic Quotes

Sometimes it's too easy to forget the things you should remember — and far too easy to remember the things you really should forget.

All people must accept that we have the potential to do terrible things. It is part of seeing our place in the universe, our heritage, and our natures. But in that acceptance we gain strength, for potential can be refused. Any hero who could have been a monster is more heroic for the choices he or she made to walk another road.

I’m not exactly a “there are nuances to this situation” type of girl. I’m more of an “if it’s still moving, you didn’t use enough ammunition” type of girl.

I could be afraid, then become courageous. I could be small-minded, then come to understand. I could be selfish. Then move beyond it. I could start as human, then allow myself to become something more.

stories say something. About us, and about where we came from. They’re a reminder that we have a past, a history. And a future.

I’m a collection of stories stuffed into a brain with no context, trying so very hard to simply keep going.

You look just fine." "Ah, 'just fine.' Exactly what a woman loves to hear." "I'm sorry," he said. "I meant to say that you look like a barbarian who just finished killing her seventeenth rabid tiger to make a necklace out of their incisors.

Get better. Learn to accept that sometimes what you feel isn’t invalid, but that it doesn’t mean you have to act according to those feelings either.

Evolution doesn’t ‘try’ to do anything,” M-Bot said. “But like it or not, you are the pinnacle of its work. All evolutionary pressures throughout all the ages among your species have resulted in you.” “Bet it feels embarrassed,” I said

...we shouldn't be required to keep giving until we'd been wrung out. That wasn't love.

Because every path we walk changes us, Spensa,

Okay, I could deal with this. I could accept this. Deal with this, brain!

Children in the future were going to insist my adventures were too outlandish—and therefore I wasn’t an actual historical person, but one that was obviously made up, like Gilgamesh or David Bowie.

See? One step at a time. You can do this. I can do this. Whatever it takes.” He nodded by wobbling his drone up and down. “Okay!” he said. “Whatever it takes. My! That feels good. To at least pretend we’re in control! I like it. Is this how you feel all the time?

Spensa,” M-Bot said, hovering along beside me, “I am not enthused by my first experiments in self-determination. My chronometer details that since my awakening, I’ve spent a frightening amount of my time lost, pouting, or being chased by interdimensional monsters.

However," he continued, "duty should not be accepted without question. Duty can be a motive, but should not be an excuse.

You cannot be defined by your questions. Only by what you do with them.

I told you that I understood crazy,” Chet said. “I was wrong. Thank you for the master class.

Poems don’t deserve numbers,

After living with the enemy,” I admitted, “I learned it wasn’t so simple. I didn’t discover that their cause was just, mind you. Only that most of them weren’t evil. They were merely people. Following, by accident, someone who was evil.

Maybe it doesn’t matter what he thinks. It’s hard to feel that, but I can say it. That feels like a different kind of lying. One that’s not all untrue.

Enjoying danger sounds like an evolutionary problem,” M-Bot said. “Shouldn’t you find things fun when they’re safe?” “Who knows?” I said. “I don’t think evolution was trying to create me. I just kind of happened.

You will not distract me from my current purpose, adversary. Though you have fought admirably, I will defeat you, then compose poetry for your funeral.” “This…um…isn’t to the death, Hesho.” “I will defeat you,” he said in the same exact tone, “and compose poetry for your retirement party.

I was Spensa, and my soul was fire.

Sometimes it’s too easy to forget the things you should remember—and far too easy to remember the things you really should forget.

One did not act so cheekily nonchalant by accident;

Jorgen!” I shouted. “Fly! You’re in the middle of a firefight, idiot!” “I’m trying! It’s a little distracting to have your ship suddenly be haunted by the ghost of your not-dead girlfriend!” He steered the ship in a precise evasive pattern. I melted a little. Girlfriend? Was that how he thought of me? I mean, we’d kissed. Once. But…I didn’t think it had been formalized or anything. I hadn’t even brought him any dead orc carcasses, which I was pretty sure was the way the stories said to show a guy you wanted to go official.

Was…was that a cow?

I see adventure,” I said. “I see mysteries and striking beauty. Watch the water shimmer as it falls. Doesn’t it look gorgeous?

Well, little in life is absolutely certain

I bet the first time you had emotions, you babbled a lot and soiled your clothing.

I found it interesting how humane things became once the people far up the command chain—the ones who didn’t have to bleed for the decisions they made—couldn’t force everyone into line.

How was I going to tell my boyfriend that half of me was now an interdimensional eldritch abomination from outside time and space? At the very least, was there maybe a less silly way of wording that?

Evolution doesn’t ‘try’ to do anything,” M-Bot said. “But like it or not, you are the pinnacle of its work. All evolutionary pressures throughout all the ages among your species have resulted in you.

You need opposing emotions in order to feel good ones?” “Yes,” I said.

Chet,” I said, “you’ve always been afraid of the Path of Elders. Why?” “I worry that if I walk it,” he said, “I’ll stop being myself.” “Why?” “Because every path we walk changes us, Spensa,” he answered. “This one more than most.

But…stories say something. About us, and about where we came from. They’re a reminder that we have a past, a history. And a future.

my strength was that I could change. I could be afraid, then become courageous. I could be small-minded, then come to understand. I could be selfish. Then move beyond it. I could start as human, then allow myself to become something more. I

I was woman enough to admit that pushing myself now was a bad idea.

People are all a little more real when they're together. Maybe together, we remind one another what it is to be alive.

Cacti are so neat, they make me want to dance. Is that a good poem? Will you rate it on a scale of one to ten?

Well, that was dramatic! a voice said in my head. I was getting more and more accustomed to the sensation of another cytonic speaking into my mind. I’d been practicing with Gran-Gran, Jorgen, and even Alanik. But this wasn’t any of them. It was a perky, faintly masculine voice—excitable and… “M-Bot?” I whispered. “What in the heavens?” I’m a ghost, he said in my mind. Boo!

Bet it feels embarrassed,

It’s all right,” I said, climbing to my feet. “Again, it’s okay to feel angry, M-Bot. But you’re going to have to learn to deal with it.

They hadn’t become enlightened or learned a better way—they merely assumed their way was how it was meant to be.

She was humble enough to take direction in order to achieve her goals.

I sorted through the impressions, and kind of understood. To the delvers, all times and places were as one. But by interacting with us, they were forced to confine themselves to our way of existence. That said,

I don’t think evolution was trying to create me. I just kind of happened.

I can appreciate making use of existing hardware and giving it a new function, but there *are* other areas of your body that make noise when air is pushed through them. Wouldn't it be so much more efficient if you could communicate *that* way instead?' -M-Bot

Technically,” M-Bot said, hovering a few centimeters closer to him, “the word ‘sentient’ just means an ability to perceive and/or feel. Many people misuse this word. Instead, ‘sapience’ is the word for self-awareness—or intelligence like a human being. Which if you think about it is a human-centric definition. Those rascally humans and their linguistic biases.

You equal home

I offered change. I offered a better way to deal with their pain, but that terrified them. They were static, and that was their weakness. My strength was the opposite; my strength was that I could change.

They were static, and that was their weakness. My strength was the opposite; my strength was that I could change. I could be afraid, then become courageous. I could be small-minded, then come to understand. I could be selfish. Then move beyond it.

Time and space are irrelevant, and after slipping into the nowhere you can come out anywhere else.

I have a friend,” I said, thinking of Rig, “who’d disagree that being together is when we enjoy ourselves. I think he has the most fun when everyone leaves him alone.

I sure hoped I survived, because Gran-Gran really needed to add this story to her repertoire. Children in the future were going to insist my adventures were too outlandish—and therefore I wasn’t an actual historical person, but one that was obviously made up, like Gilgamesh or David Bowie.

You’re just lucky that you got me on the one day in that place when I had a shower.

Among the first lessons a warrior must learn is the knowledge that his immediate enemy—the person he must kill—is just trying to survive. Soldiers are alike, no matter their side.

Quel momento era il più perfetto che avessi mai vissuto. Noi due che ci scambiavamo le reciproche versioni idealizzate, ben sapendo che non saremmo mai potuti essere all’altezza ma consapevoli che non aveva importanza. Perché semplicemente stando l’uno vicino all’altra, entravamo in risonanza e diventavamo qualcosa di più, qualcosa di “meglio”, per conoscenza, sostegno e fiducia.