“
The lamplight gleamed on the Magus’ white grin. “People like to watch the pretty puppets, Superior. Even a glimpse of the puppeteer can be most upsetting for them. Why, they might even suddenly notice the strings around their own wrists
”
”
Joe Abercrombie (Last Argument of Kings (The First Law, #3))
“
The little poets sing of little things:
Hope, cheer, and faith, small queens and puppet kings;
Lovers who kissed and then were made as one,
And modest flowers waving in the sun.
The mighty poets write in blood and tears
And agony that, flame-like, bites and sears.
They reach their mad blind hands into the night,
To plumb abysses dead to human sight;
To drag from gulfs where lunacy lies curled,
Mad, monstrous nightmare shapes to blast the world.
MUSINGS
[click on the thumbnail by Jack "King" Kirby]
”
”
Robert E. Howard
“
We’ve all lost our mind, baby, but that’s how we all found each other. We’re all lost, but we’re all lost on the same road.
”
”
Amo Jones (The Broken Puppet (Elite King's Club, #2))
“
We’ll find that place, then,” he said quietly.
“What?” Her brows narrowed.
“I’ll go with you.” And though he hadn’t asked, they both knew those words held a question. He tried not to think of what she’d said last night—of the shame she’d felt holding him when he was a son of Adarlan and she was a daughter of Terrasen.
“What about being Captain of the Guard?”
“Perhaps my duties aren’t what I expected them to be.” The king kept things from him; there were so many secrets, and perhaps he was little more than a puppet, part of the illusion that he was starting to see through …
“You love your country,” she said. “I can’t let you give all that up.” He caught the glimmer of pain and hope in her eyes, and before he knew what he was doing, he’d closed the distance between them, one hand on her waist and the other on her shoulder.
“I would be the greatest fool in the world to let you go alone.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2))
“
Making people happy isn't the province of kinds," Nikolai noted. "Perhaps if I'd been born a baker or a puppeteer.
”
”
Leigh Bardugo (Rule of Wolves (King of Scars, #2))
“
What separates us into engineers and robots, puppeteers and puppets, kings and pawns, is not the status we hold at any given time among others - status is irrelevant; it is the level of ever-present awareness we have of a grey-matter tailor's tools [of flattery, persuasion, and cunning.]
”
”
A.J. Darkholme (Rise of the Morningstar (The Morningstar Chronicles, #1))
“
As alluring as a floating swan, but as deadly as a silver bullet.
”
”
Amo Jones (The Broken Puppet (Elite Kings Club, #2))
“
When you fall for the devil, make sure you don’t land facedown with his horns stabbed through your heart.
”
”
Amo Jones (The Broken Puppet (Elite Kings Club, #2))
“
Fear is your patch, babe. We all have our patches. Those little spaces that could bring us to our knees if dabbled with.
”
”
Amo Jones (The Broken Puppet (Elite Kings Club, #2))
“
Because being broken is how you’re going to survive this life,
”
”
Amo Jones (The Broken Puppet (Elite Kings Club, #2))
“
I am not a joke. I am not a riddle! I am not a bird or a cat or a penguin! I'm not a scarecrow or a plant or a puppet! I am not your broken friend! I am not your regretful teacher! I am not a child's fairy tale! I am not a circus act here to amuse and frighten you! I am not another one of your madmen howling at the moon! And I...I am not...I am not some rich boy playing dress-up! I AM BANE!
”
”
Tom King (Batman, Vol. 3: I Am Bane)
“
She thought that to children adult motives and actions must seem as bulking and ominous as dangerous animals seen in the shadows of a dark forest. They were jerked about like puppets, having only the vaguest notions why.
”
”
Stephen King (The Shining (The Shining, #1))
“
I really need to find a grip on my feelings when it comes to Bishop, or my plan will turn to shit. I’m taking him down, but I won’t complain if he goes down with his face buried between my thighs. May as well enjoy it while it’s happening.
”
”
Amo Jones (The Broken Puppet (Elite Kings Club, #2))
“
Dawn, Cillian. That is how long I’ll wait for your apology. For you to remember you were nothing but a puppet king who forgot he was on strings.
”
”
J.J. McAvoy (Children of Vice (Children of Vice, #1))
“
Making people happy isn't the province of kings. Perhaps if I'd been born a baker or a puppeteer."
-Nikolai Lantsov
”
”
Leigh Bardugo (Rule of Wolves (King of Scars, #2))
“
Human emotions are a fickle thing. They can blind even the smartest of people and make them think that someone won’t do bad, but people will always do bad. There’s no stopping that.
”
”
Amo Jones (The Broken Puppet (Elite Kings Club, #2))
“
He’s fucking the life out of me, quite literally, because I can feel myself losing consciousness every now and then, but I notice how he loosens his grip every few seconds too, as if to give me little cracks of air.
”
”
Amo Jones (The Broken Puppet (Elite Kings Club, #2))
“
You mean the nice little white man who sings? With the puppets?” “That’s Mister Rogers’s address. One forty-three. You know what one forty-three means?” “No, Soup.” His stoic face folded into a smile. “I would tell you, but I don’t wanna spoil it.
”
”
James McBride (Deacon King Kong)
“
Murtaugh went on. “Vernon Lochan survived, but only because he was already the king's puppet, after Cal was executed, Vernon seized his brother's mantle as Lord of Perranth. You know what happened to Lady Marion. But we never learned what happened to Elide.” Elide—Lord Cal and Lady Marion's daughter and heir, almost a year younger than Aelin. If she were alive, she would be at least seventeen by now. “Lots of children vanished in the initial weeks,” Murtaugh finished. Aedion didn't want to think about those too-small graves.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass, #3))
“
I know of nothing in all drama more incomparable from the point of view of art, nothing more suggestive in its subtlety of observation, than Shakespeare's drawing of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They are Hamlet's college friends. They have been his companions. They bring with them memories of pleasant days together. At the moment when they come across him in the play he is staggering under the weight of a burden intolerable to one of his temperament. The dead have come armed out of the grave to impose on him a mission at once too great and too mean for him. He is a dreamer, and he is called upon to act. He has the nature of the poet, and he is asked to grapple with the common complexity of cause and effect, with life in its practical realisation, of which he knows nothing, not with life in its ideal essence, of which he knows so much. He has no conception of what to do, and his folly is to feign folly. Brutus used madness as a cloak to conceal the sword of his purpose, the dagger of his will, but the Hamlet madness is a mere mask for the hiding of weakness. In the making of fancies and jests he sees a chance of delay. He keeps playing with action as an artist plays with a theory. He makes himself the spy of his proper actions, and listening to his own words knows them to be but 'words, words, words.' Instead of trying to be the hero of his own history, he seeks to be the spectator of his own tragedy. He disbelieves in everything, including himself, and yet his doubt helps him not, as it comes not from scepticism but from a divided will.
Of all this Guildenstern and Rosencrantz realise nothing. They bow and smirk and smile, and what the one says the other echoes with sickliest intonation. When, at last, by means of the play within the play, and the puppets in their dalliance, Hamlet 'catches the conscience' of the King, and drives the wretched man in terror from his throne, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz see no more in his conduct than a rather painful breach of Court etiquette. That is as far as they can attain to in 'the contemplation of the spectacle of life with appropriate emotions.' They are close to his very secret and know nothing of it. Nor would there be any use in telling them. They are the little cups that can hold so much and no more.
”
”
Oscar Wilde (De Profundis and Other Writings)
“
At first only Tamarind had noticed the awkward, disquieting way his expressions changed, as if a puppeteer were pulling wires to move his face muscles, and doing it rather badly. Nowadays she saw the fear in everybody’s eyes. Her brother was going out of tune like an old piano, and nobody would come to retune his strings. Dukes and kings may go mad at their leisure, for nobody has enough power to stop them.
”
”
Frances Hardinge (Fly by Night)
“
That year, and every year, it seemed, we began by studying the Revolutionary War. We were taken in school buses on field trips to visit Plymouth Rock, and to walk the Freedom Trail, and to climb to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument. We made dioramas out of colored construction paper depicting George Washington crossing the choppy waters of the Delaware River, and we made puppets of King George wearing white tights and a black bow in his hair. During tests we were given blank maps of the thirteen colonies, and asked to fill in names, dates, capitals. I could do it with my eyes closed.
”
”
Jhumpa Lahiri (Interpreter of Maladies)
“
We live all our lives in cages. Each of us, be we a slave or be we a king, call a prison our home. The prison is that which gives us shelter. It is our society.
”
”
Kathryn Ann Kingsley (The Puppeteer (Harrow Faire, #2))
“
The moon has no master," said the owl. "The moon is its own king."
"Or queen," said the girl.
The moon rose higher.
”
”
Kate DiCamillo (The Puppets of Spelhorst)
“
Once upon a puppet, she spun a tale to the mad king. - The Peer
”
”
B.B. Reid (The Peer and the Puppet (When Rivals Play, #1))
“
She was a puppet, and the men in her life held the strings. Elyse swore to give everything into being a mage so she could cut those strings. No husband, father, friend, or king would decide for her again.
”
”
Eri Leigh (A Queen's Game (Aithyr Uprising, #1))
“
His grin widens, shows teeth. 'I don't think I will be a good king. I never wanted to be one, certainly not a good one. You made me your puppet. Very well, Jude, daughter of Madoc, I will be your puppet. You rule. You contend with Balekin, with Roiben, with Orlagh of the Undersea. You be my seneschal, do the work, and I will drink wine and make my subjects laugh. I may be the useless shield you put in front of your brother, but don't expect me to start being useful.'
I expected something else, a direct threat, perhaps. Somehow, this is worse.
He rises from the throne. 'Come, have a seat.' His voice is replete with danger, lush with menace. The flowering branches have sprouted thorns so thickly that petals are barely visible.
'This is what you wanted, isn't it?' he asks. 'What you sacrificed everything for. Go on. It's all yours.
”
”
Holly Black (The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1))
“
And if the serpent grows in monstrousness and corruption, if it poisons the land of Elfhame itself, then let me be the queen of monsters. Let me rule over the blackened land with my redcap father as a puppet by my side. Let me be feared and never again afraid.
Only out of his spilled blood can a great ruler rise.
Let me have everything I ever wanted, everything I ever dreamed, and eternal misery along with it. Let me live on with an ice shard through my heart.
”
”
Holly Black (The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3))
“
These peasants, who, throughout the world, hold potentates on their thrones, make statesmen illustrious, provide generals with lasting victories, all with ignorance, indifference, or half-witted hatred, moving the world with the strength of their arms, and getting their heads knocked together in the name of God, the king, or the stock exchange-immortal, dreaming, hopeless asses, who surrender their reason to the care of a shining puppet, and persuade some toy to carry their lives in his purse.
”
”
Jack London (The People of the Abyss)
“
But why is God so slow in conquering the forces of evil? Why does not God break in and smash the evil schemes of wicked men?...We are responsible human beings, not blind automatons; persons, not puppets. By endowing us with freedom, God relinquished a measure of his own sovereignty and imposed certain limitations upon himself. If his children are free, they must do his will by a voluntary choice. Therefore, God cannot at the same time impose his will upon his children and also maintain his purpose for man.
”
”
Martin Luther King Jr.
“
Madness is an insidious disease.
We do not see the danger until it is too late. It creeps into the cracks and crevices of the mind and makes itself at home, like carpenter ants in the framing of a home. We do not know the floor has rotted away until one ill-timed step destroys the façade of normalcy.
But carpenter ants do not destroy a home. They change it. As matter cannot be destroyed, they consume the structures we have built and rearrange it for their own use.
While a home beset by such insects might seem uninhabitable for those who look at the situation from the outside, to the ants it was the intended outcome. We might inspect the foundation and find it derelict and dilapidated. We might scoff and say that anyone who lives within such a place is idiotic, and that they should have not neglected it in such a way. And, in extreme cases, they should move.
Consider this metaphor in relation to one’s mind. That place in which we spend the entirety of our mortal lives. What happens when your home is beset by insects then?
One cannot move out of one’s own mind, try as we might. We are trapped within these structures of ours, for better or worse and come what may. We must make do with what we are given and what we have left. Whereas you or I in our daily lives might seek a new homestead in such an infestation, in this labyrinth of the psyche, we cannot.
There are different ways that a consciousness, once gnawed and riddled with holes, might come to adapt to such a state of being. Consider three men with this dilemma, if you will.
The first man may seek to repair the damage—replace the eaten portions and shore up the foundations. This man is pragmatic, but shortsighted. He treats the symptoms, but not the cause.
The second may seek to exterminate the infestation—to seek the illness at the root and rip it out. This man is wise, but must need act quickly before the house collapses around him.
The third man merely laughs—he accepts his new state of being and does nothing to repair his home. He declares himself King of the Ants, lifts up hammer and sledge, and tears the remaining walls apart with his own two hands.
You might think that man the fool. You might think him a harmless, laughing lunatic.
It is a mistake that leads to ruin.
For that man is the most dangerous of them all.
-M. L. Harrow
”
”
Kathryn Ann Kingsley (The Puppeteer (Harrow Faire, #2))
“
Indeed, they felt it their duty to disabuse me of my weaponized history. They had seen so many Malcolmites before and were ready. Their method was rough and direct. Did black skin really convey nobility? Always? Yes. What about the blacks who’d practiced slavery for millennia and sold slaves across the Sahara and then across the sea? Victims of a trick. Would those be the same black kings who birthed all of civilization? Were they then both deposed masters of the galaxy and gullible puppets all at once? And what did I mean by “black”? You know, black. Did I think this a timeless category stretching into the deep past? Yes? Could it be supposed that simply because color was important to me, it had always been so? I
”
”
Ta-Nehisi Coates (Between the World and Me)
“
It was as if the thing that was N’Kari was merely a finger-puppet on the end of a claw that had been poked through the walls of reality by some much greater being.
”
”
William King (Tyrion and Teclis Omnibus (Warhammer Chronicles))
“
I fell forever, until it felt as though I were no longer falling at all but suspended in the darkness, a puppet waiting for her strings to be jerked by a cruel master.
”
”
Steffanie Holmes (Initiated (Kings of Miskatonic Prep, #2))
“
Kwitny’s Endless Enemies: The Making of an Unfriendly World (1984), an astute examination of U.S. economic policy and its long habit of manipulating governments. Kwitny wrote extensively about the Congo: how its hard-won independence lasted only about fifty days before it was lost again—diamonds, cobalt, self-determination, and all—to foreign business interests. The U.S. was the star player in this piracy. The first elected Congolese Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, declared that Congo’s wealth belonged to her people and would be used to improve their lives. The U.S. response was to hatch an assassination plan, finance a coup, and replace Lumumba with a puppet dictator who could be bribed to open the vaults to multinational corporations.
”
”
Adam Hochschild (King Leopold's Ghost)
“
That’s not what concerns me. It’s the idea of women being used for a singular purpose—to serve a man’s pleasure—and being seen as nothing more. We are not puppets to use and discard. We have lives, we have souls and hearts . . . we aren’t things.
”
”
Lauren Smith (Devil of the High Seas (Pirates of King's Landing #3))
“
Vasana is determinism that feels like free will. I’m reminded of my friend Jean, whom I’ve known for almost twenty years. Jean considers himself very spiritual and went so far in the early nineties as to walk way from his job with a newspaper in Denver to live in an ashram in western Massachusetts. But he found the atmosphere choking. “They’re all crypto Hindus,” he complained. “They don’t do anything but pray and chant and meditate.” So Jean decided to move on with his life. He’s fallen in love with a couple of women but has never married. He doesn’t like the notion of settling down and tends to move to a new state every four years or so. (He once told me that he counted up and discovered that he’s lived in forty different houses since he was born.) One day Jean called me with a story. He was on a date with a woman who had taken a sudden interest in Sufism, and while they were driving home, she told Jean that according to her Sufi teacher, everyone has a prevailing characteristic. “You mean the thing that is most prominent about them, like being extroverted or introverted?” he asked. “No, not prominent,” she said. “Your prevailing characteristic is hidden. You act on it without seeing that you’re acting on it.” The minute he heard this, Jean became excited. “I looked out the car window, and it hit me,” he said. “I sit on the fence. I am only comfortable if I can have both sides of a situation without committing to either.” All at once a great many pieces fell into place. Jean could see why he went into an ashram but didn’t feel like he was one of the group. He saw why he fell in love with women but always saw their faults. Much more came to light. Jean complains about his family yet never misses a Christmas with them. He considers himself an expert on every subject he’s studied—there have been many—but he doesn’t earn his living pursuing any of them. He is indeed an inveterate fence-sitter. And as his date suggested, Jean had no idea that his Vasana, for that’s what we’re talking about, made him enter into one situation after another without ever falling off the fence. “Just think,” he said with obvious surprise, “the thing that’s the most me is the thing I never saw.” If unconscious tendencies kept working in the dark, they wouldn’t be a problem. The genetic software in a penguin or wildebeest guides it to act without any knowledge that it is behaving much like every other penguin or wildebeest. But human beings, unique among all living creatures, want to break down Vasana. It’s not good enough to be a pawn who thinks he’s a king. We crave the assurance of absolute freedom and its result—a totally open future. Is this reasonable? Is it even possible? In his classic text, the Yoga Sutras, the sage Patanjali informs us that there are three types of Vasana. The kind that drives pleasant behavior he calls white Vasana; the kind that drives unpleasant behavior he calls dark Vasana; the kind that mixes the two he calls mixed Vasana. I would say Jean had mixed Vasana—he liked fence-sitting but he missed the reward of lasting love for another person, a driving aspiration, or a shared vision that would bond him with a community. He displayed the positives and negatives of someone who must keep every option open. The goal of the spiritual aspirant is to wear down Vasana so that clarity can be achieved. In clarity you know that you are not a puppet—you have released yourself from the unconscious drives that once fooled you into thinking that you were acting spontaneously.
”
”
Deepak Chopra (The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life)
“
The little slogan, “Let go, and let God,” is not what the New Testament teaches—at least that is only part of the truth, for the act of total submission to the sovereignty of Jesus Christ is but the beginning of a new régime in your heart. No longer is the puppet king Self upon the throne, but the great King of kings and Lord of lords has stepped in to take over the government of your life.
”
”
Alan Redpath (The Making of a Man of God: Lessons from the Life of David)
“
Of course, Obama, like most of his duplicitous predecessors of both Parties, is only a front man; a shameless, feckless, rabble rousing puppet whose protective skin pigmentation insulates him from the close scrutiny and criticism which he so richly deserves. Sound too harsh? Ask the grieving family members of all those women and children that the “Commander In Chief” has obliterated in Syria, Yemen, Pakistan etc, if such an assessment is too harsh, or “racist”?
”
”
M.S. King (The War Against Putin: What the Government-Media Complex Isn't Telling You About Russia)
“
You’re a puppet master. You make unworthy, uninteresting, vapid people sound like paragons of virtue.” “I’m a writer and a successful one, and I’m sorry I can’t help you.
”
”
A.A. Paton (Captive (The Bliss King #1))
“
In the end, no one knew how many minds the mask held. The only thing known for certain was that they all hated each other.
–Final Shiloh
”
”
Daniel Scott Westby (Goblin Winter: of Puppet Kings and Telling Sins)
“
would rather die a free man than live as a slave to a theocracy, beneath a puppet king who has less faith than I do.
”
”
David Dalglish (Dawn of Swords (Breaking World, #1))
“
God’s providence is always on time! You and I make appointments, and miss them by half-an-hour. But God has never missed an appointment yet. God is never early, though we often wish he were. But he is never late, no, not by one tick of the clock. When it was time for the people of Israel to leave Egypt, all the Pharaohs in the pyramids, if they had risen to life again, could not have kept them in slavery another half-minute. When the Lord said, “Let my people go,” it was time and go they did. All the kings and princes of the earth are under the rule of God’s providence. He can move them just as he pleases. God can move everyone on earth and the angels in heaven according to his will and pleasure, like the puppeteer pulls his strings and moves his puppets. And now, you who are trembling, why are you afraid? “Fear not, I am with you.” All the mysterious actions of God work for our good. You who are in trouble; touch that string again and see if God’s harp does not play sweet music.
”
”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (Peace and Purpose in Trial and Suffering)
“
I am sure of the fact that the Pandavas are going to win this war.” “What makes you so sure?” asked Krishna with a smile. Radheya said: “I know it. The war which is to be fought on the field called Kurukshetra is a sacrifice. You are the master of ceremonies and Arjuna is the star performer. The other brothers will all be puppets in your hands. You are going to move them hither and thither. The end is clear to me. The sons of Dhritarashtra and all of us, Bheeshma, Drona, myself and all the kings of earth are meant to reach the heaven meant for those who die on the battle-field. I have also been having dreams, Krishna. I am good at reading meanings into dreams. My dreams tell me clearly that the Pandavas are going to win this war.
”
”
Kamala Subramaniam (Mahabharata)
“
For Plato, of course, there existed beyond the realm of ordinary sense-experience the world of Forms, for which outward, earthly appearances—including symbols such as language itself—were mere and meager representations. Words were simply incapable of accurately describing or illustrating this divine realm. The logic and reason of the Aristotelians occupied its true home only in the sphere of sense-experience—in what Pletho had nonchalantly dismissed as the world of oysters and embryos. The Aristotelian philosophy on which western Christianity depended therefore offered a misguided point of departure in any quest for inexpressible truths and eternal verities. The clumsy wordings of dogmas, liturgies, creeds: such things were mere shadow puppets on the wall of the Platonic cave; debates framed by Aristotelian philosophy could never hope to approach or capture their proper forms. On the other hand, Plato’s philosophy, with its belief in a unity embracing scattered differences, offered a more promising chance to find a concord between the Greeks and the Latins. Bessarion and Traversari duly worked out a compromise on the fraught question of the Procession of the Holy Spirit. They came up with the argument that since the saints in both the East and West had been inspired by the same Holy Spirit, it scarcely mattered whether this Holy Spirit proceeded from both the Father and the Son or simply from the Father. It was, after all, merely a matter of semantics—of whether one believed that “from” (εκ) and “through” (διά) meant the same thing. As Bessarion put it in the context of another dispute, the two parties “agreed in substance and differed only in words.
”
”
Ross King (The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance)
“
People like to watch the pretty puppets, Superior. Even a glimpse of the puppeteer can be most upsetting for them. Why, they might even suddenly notice the strings around their own wrists.
”
”
Joe Abercrombie (Last Argument of Kings (The First Law, #3))
“
Amren looked to the great sword, still slowly rotating above them. “Then explain to me why, after thousands of years, objects that once crowned and aided the old Fae have returned. The last time a High King ruled Prythian, it was with a magic sword in his hand. Look at that great sword before you, Rhysand, and tell me that it is not a sign from the Cauldron itself.” Cassian’s breath caught in his throat. “It was a fluke, Amren. Nesta didn’t make it on purpose.” Amren shook her head, hair swaying. “Nothing is a fluke. The Cauldron’s power flows through Nesta, and could use her as a puppet without her knowledge. It wanted those weapons Made, and thus they were Made. It wanted Rhysand to have them and thus the blacksmith brought them to you. To you, Rhysand, not to Nesta. And do not forget that Nesta herself—and Elain, with whatever powers she has—is here. Feyre is here. All three sisters blessed by fate and gifted with powers to match your own. Feyre alone doubles your strength. Nesta makes you unstoppable. Especially if she were to march into battle wearing the Mask. No enemy could stand against her. She’d slay Beron’s soldiers, then raise them from the dead and turn them on him.” Cassian’s blood chilled. Yes, Nesta would be unstoppable. But at what cost to her soul? Rhys leveled a cool stare at Amren. “I will not entertain this ridiculous notion for another moment.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4))
“
I refused to be anyone’s victim or puppet again. I would protect my family and myself, no matter the cost. That’s what a queen does. No more waiting to be saved or leaving revenge for others to handle. It was my job as much as Amon’s.
”
”
Eva Winners (Wrathful King (Stolen Empire, #3))
“
Books, in their purest form, are vessels of knowledge, gateways to imagination, and catalysts for learning. They possess the incredible power to educate, inspire, and empower individuals, transcending boundaries of time, space, and culture. Books are not mere tools of manipulation or grooming; they are beacons of enlightenment, guiding us towards a deeper understanding of the world and ourselves. To claim that books groom or indoctrinate individuals is to undermine the inherent intelligence and discernment of humanity. Books are not puppet masters pulling the strings of our minds; they are companions on our journey, offering insights, perspectives, and narratives that expand our horizons and challenge our preconceived notions. In the realm of literature, we find the freedom to explore diverse ideas, to question authority, and to engage in critical thinking. It is through books that we encounter heroes who teach us about courage, compassion, and resilience. We discover worlds beyond our own, cultures we may never experience firsthand, and histories that shape our present. Books are a refuge for the marginalized, a voice for the silenced, and a catalyst for social change. They have the power to ignite revolutions, dismantle oppressive systems, and inspire generations to fight for justice. To accuse books of grooming is to ignore the countless individuals who have been transformed by the written word. From the abolitionist movements fueled by slave narratives to the civil rights movement propelled by the works of Martin Luther King Jr., books have consistently been at the forefront of societal transformation. They have the ability to challenge the status quo, dismantle stereotypes, and empower individuals to think critically and act conscientiously. In a world where disinformation and manipulation are rampant, books provide a sanctuary of truth, authenticity, and intellectual rigor. They encourage us to question, to seek evidence, and to seek multiple perspectives. Books cultivate empathy, broaden our understanding of diverse experiences, and foster a sense of connection that transcends borders. Therefore, let us not succumb to the fallacy that books groom or brainwash individuals. Instead, let us celebrate the power of literature to uplift, to enlighten, and to ignite the flames of curiosity. Let us embrace the freedom to read, to explore ideas that challenge us, and to engage in open dialogue that fosters understanding and unity. In the words of Frederick Douglass, 'Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.' Books are the keys that unlock the doors of knowledge, emancipation, and liberation. They are not tools of manipulation but instruments of empowerment. Let us cherish them, protect them, and ensure that their transformative power continues to shape our world for the better.
”
”
D.L. Lewis
“
leaving. “Live my life, I suppose. Live it the way I want to, for once. Learn how to be a normal girl.” “How far away?” Her blue-and-gold eyes flickered. “I’d travel until I found a place where they’d never heard of Adarlan. If such a place exists.” And she would never come back. And because she was young, and so damn clever and amusing and wonderful, wherever she made her home, there would be some man who would fall in love with her and who would make her his wife, and that was the worst truth of all. It had snuck up on him, this pain and terror and rage at the thought of anyone else with her. Every look, every word from her … He didn’t even know when it had started. “We’ll find that place, then,” he said quietly. “What?” Her brows narrowed. “I’ll go with you.” And though he hadn’t asked, they both knew those words held a question. He tried not to think of what she’d said last night—of the shame she’d felt holding him when he was a son of Adarlan and she was a daughter of Terrasen. “What about being Captain of the Guard?” “Perhaps my duties aren’t what I expected them to be.” The king kept things from him; there were so many secrets, and perhaps he was little more than a puppet, part of the illusion that he was starting to see through … “You love your country,” she said. “I can’t let you give all that up.” He caught the glimmer of pain and hope in her eyes, and before he knew what he was doing, he’d closed the distance between them, one hand on her waist and the other on her shoulder. “I would be the greatest fool in the world to let you go alone.” And then there were tears rolling down her face, and her mouth became a thin, wobbling line. He pulled back, but didn’t let her go. “Why are you crying?” “Because,” she whispered, her voice shaking, “you remind me of how the world ought to be. What the world can be.” There had never been any line between them, only his own stupid fear and pride. Because from the moment he’d pulled her out of that mine in Endovier and she had set those eyes upon him, still fierce despite a year in hell, he’d been walking toward this, walking to her. So Chaol brushed away her tears, lifted her chin, and kissed her.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass)
“
As for the claims by the Congolese historian Isidore Ndaywel è Nziem (“13 million killed” in 1998, then “5 to 10 million killed” in 2008), they are hard to keep track of. Initially, the starting year for his assertions was 1880 (five years before the EIC was founded and ten years before any rubber harvesting) while the latter estimate extended the end year to 1930 (22 years after the EIC). A second edition of the latter estimate, without explanation, moved up the starting date to 1885. Ndaywel cites no data or methods. All three editions of his book merely cite Moulin. It is notable that in a lengthy essay on the EIC published in L’Histoire in 2020, Ndaywel no longer makes any specific population claims, asserting only that the effects of the EIC were “worse than grim” (“plus que macabres”). In the end, Ndaywel is not credible. His works are published by the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium because he is black. This helps them to “decolonize Eurocentric narratives,” which means using blacks as shadow puppets to shield their radical accounts from criticism.
”
”
Bruce Gilley (The Ghost Still Haunts: Adam Hochschild responds to Bruce Gilley, who follows in kind)
“
Ludo De Witte states that Lumumba was the only intelligent and respectable Congolese and that all the others were only children and puppets of whites. Only a white man, even subordinated to Blacks, is an adult, conscious and responsible. These are true little racist opinions.
”
”
Marcel Yabili (The Greatest Fake News of All Time: Leopold II, The Genius and Builder King of Lumumba)
“
A hardliner by nature, Honecker was nonetheless more open to rock music. But rather than import music by decadent capitalist puppets like the Doors or the Stones, he determined the DDR should foster its own rock culture. This led to a string of officially sanctioned East German rock bands dominating Free German Youth concerts and DDR youth radio during the 1970s. Bands with names like the Puhdys, Renft, Electra-Combo, Karussell, and Stern-Combo Meissen aped Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, King Crimson, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and Jethro Tull—and landed deals with the government record label, Amiga, the sole music manufacturer and distributor in the tightly-controlled East German media system.
”
”
Tim Mohr (Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall)
“
We give them power, to play the game
Then to who do we blame
we do surrender even without struggle
keep quiet, we use to sit cool and calm
Then to who do we blame
ink, Paper pen, and human
they are buying all, what they can
blood in the street. is washing money rain
putridity of Corpse, vanish by the status fragrance
Orgy of cruelty everywhere without shame
it's a new normal, as we are so tolerance
just, religion cast and anti-nation
where is health where is education
harmony, peace, and love disappearing
who is dying nearby, who is caring
closed inside the malice cage,
just dancing to the leader's fame
Then to who do we blame
the world is a market full of moon-shine shade
the financial value will decide your grade
the disease is a business, death is a trade
I have seen, people crying for a piece of bread
but, TV studio, newspaper, and twitter
Filled to the brim with hate thread
don't shout, shut your mouth
king is sleeping, building the nation in a dream
working hard for your butter and cream
hunger, Poverty, thirst, nothing at all
you must be a pride citizen, that's all
keep burning nationalism flame
otherwise, you are a traitor, damn
We give them power, to play the game
let them play, with our future and generation
don't cry, don't cry, be little wise
if we are a puppet of politics.
to earn their bread and fame they need our sacrifice
to earn their bread and fame they need our sacrifice
”
”
Mohammed Zaki Ansari ("Zaki's Gift Of Love")
“
I said, I guess I’ll just let Entity 303 turn me into his puppet.” The Ender King sat down in his throne and nodded his head sadly. “Maybe that’s what it is. Didn’t you say you had some visions of Entity 303 even before these dreams?” “Yeah, but Clayton’s Evoker basically told me that he had put those visions in my head just to scare me.
”
”
Dr. Block (Diary of a Surfer Villager, Book 7 (Diary of a Surfer Villager #7))
“
Illidan schooled his face to impassivity. His own brother obviously still thought of him as nothing but a monster, a puppet for the Legion. He would show him. He would show them all that the demons had no power over him,
”
”
William King (Illidan (World of Warcraft, #14))
“
I had a little ginger cat. I found him in a field, stolen from his mother, a real wild cat. He
was two weeks old, maybe a little more, but he already knew how to scratch and bite. I
fed him and petted him and took him home. He became the sweetest cat. Once, he hid in
the sleeve of a visitor’s coat. He was the most polite creature, a real prince. When we
came home in the middle of the night, he would come greet us, his eyes all sleepy. Then
he’d go back to sleep in our bed. One time the door was closed to our bedroom—he tried
to open it, he pushed it with his behind, and he got angry and he made a beautiful noise.
He shunned us for a week. He was terrified of the vacuum cleaner. He was really a
cowardly cat, defenseless, a poet cat. Once we brought him a toy mouse and he hid
under the cabinet. We wanted him to experience the outside world. We put him on the pavement right outside the window. He was so scared. There were pigeons all around
and he was frightened of pigeons. He meowed with despair, pressed against the wall.
All animals and all other cats were strange creatures that he mistrusted or enemies that
he feared. He was only happy with us. We were his family. He thought we were cats
and cats were something else. But still, one day, he went out on his own. The big dog
next door killed him. He was lying there like a cat doll, a puppet ripped open with an
eye gouged out and a paw torn off, like a stuffed animal damaged by a sadistic child.
I had a dream about him. He was in the fireplace, lying on the embers. Marie was
surprised he didn’t burn. I said, “Cat’s don’t burn. They’re fireproof.” He came out of
the fireplace, meowing in a cloud of smoke. But it wasn’t him—it was another cat, ugly
and fat and female. Like his mother, the wildcat. He looked like Marguerite.
”
”
Eugène Ionesco (Three Plays: Exit the King / The Killer / Macbett)
“
It’s unsettling and it’s weird, but I’ve gotten used to it over the years.
”
”
Amo Jones (The Broken Puppet (Elite Kings Club, #2))
“
Hold on,” the prince, put a hand on the king’s shoulder. “I’ve got to see how this ends.
”
”
Justin Arnold (The Prince and the Puppet Thief)
“
Hold on,” the prince, put a hand on the king’s shoul‐ der. “I’ve got to see how this ends.
”
”
Justin Arnold (The Prince and the Puppet Thief)
“
Look to your internment in Quarantine as a blessing (I have no doubt you’ll weather the virus).
It is a fortuitous opportunity to reflect on the poison flecking your tongue, and, if you can resist swallowing, perhaps one day the gates will open, hopefully by myself, and we can once again discuss philosophy into the wee hours of the night. Or perhaps you’ve already escaped and will plunge a knife into my back as I sign my valediction…
”
”
Daniel Scott Westby (Goblin Winter: of Puppet Kings and Telling Sins)
“
Plaag’s appearance and the virus’ spread had been a godsend — a distraction that kept Wulf
one step ahead of the memories of his loss of Sarah.
”
”
Daniel Scott Westby (Goblin Winter: of Puppet Kings and Telling Sins)
“
Something about the sickness he followed promised redemption. Something about the quest for the man he later knew as Pestilence, and later yet as Plaag, overshadowed the shame of his memories. And so he followed, heading toward the horizon instead of away from it for the first time in years.
”
”
Daniel Scott Westby (Goblin Winter: of Puppet Kings and Telling Sins)
“
I didn’t come here because of some virus,” Shay said, his words coming carefully and deliberately after breathing deeply. He breathed to force down the solid cramp in his chest and because he feared, that if he did not, he may forget to, and giving into unconsciousness or death was too easy, too tempting an escape.
”
”
Daniel Scott Westby (Goblin Winter: of Puppet Kings and Telling Sins)
“
Undiluted, he is lesser than all
the Lesser Prophets combined
Now the disease we will find
is his cure, his call, and mankind’s downfall
—The Fallo Terminus (LVI)
”
”
Daniel Scott Westby (Goblin Winter: of Puppet Kings and Telling Sins)
“
In meager weeks only a ghost town would remain with specters of a lingering disease that kept even bandits away. Just easy pickings for the goblins. It was no wonder the vermin saw Pestilence as a harbinger of the Goblin Winter — a time for them to walk freely in the daylight.
”
”
Daniel Scott Westby (Goblin Winter: of Puppet Kings and Telling Sins)