Sword Of Truth Quotes

We've searched our database for all the quotes and captions related to Sword Of Truth. Here they are! All 100 of them:

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If the road is easy, you're likely going the wrong way.
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Terry Goodkind
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People are stupid. They will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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I am who I am; no more, no less.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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You don't always have to chop with the sword of truth. You can point with it too.
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Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird)
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Sometimes, making the wrong choice is better than making no choice. You have the courage to go forward, that is rare. A person who stands at the fork, unable to pick, will never get anywhere.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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Myths are simply stories about truths we've forgotten.
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Rick Riordan (The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #1))
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Love is not about what you want. It's about finding happiness for the one you love.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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I'm afraid that we all make mistakes. One of the things that defines our character is how we handle mistakes. If we lie about having made a mistake, then it can't be corrected and it festers. On the other hand, if we give up just because we made a mistake, even a big mistake, none of us would get far in life.
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Terry Goodkind (Confessor (Sword of Truth, #11))
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Wizard's First Rule: People are stupid
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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Your life is your own. Rise up and live it.
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Terry Goodkind (Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth, #6))
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...Wizard's Fifth Rule: Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie.
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Terry Goodkind (Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth, #5))
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That is the curse of lying, Sister. Once you place that crown of the liar upon your head, you can take it off again, but it leaves a stain for all time.
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Terry Goodkind (Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth, #5))
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Understanding is a three edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.
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J. Michael Straczynski
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no army has ever marched into battle thinking that the Creator had sided with their enemy.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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When the whole world is crazy, it doesn't pay to be sane.
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Terry Goodkind (The Pillars of Creation (Sword of Truth, #7))
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And who are you, the proud Lord said that I must bow so low? Only a cat of a different coat, that's all the truth I know. In a coat of gold or a coat of red, a lion still has claws. And, mine are as long and sharp, my Lord as long and sharp as yours. And so he spoke, and so he spoke, that Lord of Castamere, but now the rains weep o'er his hall, with no one there to hear. Yes, now the rains weep o'er his hall, and not a soul to hear.
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George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
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We all can be only who we are, no more, no less.
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Terry Goodkind (Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth, #2))
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Fate does not seek our consent.
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Terry Goodkind (Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth, #3))
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Charity, if you have the means, is a personal choice, but charity which is expected or compelled is simply a polite word for slavery.
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Terry Goodkind (The Pillars of Creation (Sword of Truth, #7))
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Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent.
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Terry Goodkind (Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth, #6))
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Knowing when to fight is just as important as knowing how.
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Terry Goodkind (Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth, #6))
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A harp can be a dangerous as a sword, in the right hands.
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George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
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What is truth? The negation of lies? Or the statement of a fact? And if the fact is a lie, what then is the truth?
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Andrzej Sapkowski (Sword of Destiny (The Witcher, #0.7))
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Love is a passion for life shared with another person. You fall in love with a person who you think is wonderful. It's your deepest appreciation of the value of that individual, and that individual is a reflection of what you value most in life. Love, for sound reasons, can be one of life's greatest rewards.
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Terry Goodkind (Chainfire (Sword of Truth, #9))
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The light of a new day always chases the shadows of the night away, and shows us that the shape of our fears is only the ghost of our own minds.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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The sun has already set on the days we made those choices. We must concentrate on what we can do tomorrow; we can't relive yesterday.
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Terry Goodkind
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The Second Rule is that the greatest harm can result from the best intentions. It sounds a paradox, but kindness and good intentions can be an insidious path to destruction. Sometimes doing what seems right is wrong, and can cause harm. The only counter to it is knowledge, wisdom, forethought, and understanding the First Rule. Even then, that is not always enough.
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Terry Goodkind (Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth, #2))
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If you are unwilling to defend your right to your own lives, then you are merely like mice trying to argue with owls. You think their ways are wrong. They think you are dinner.
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Terry Goodkind (Naked Empire (Sword of Truth, #8))
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Once you teach me something, it's mine to use.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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Such is human memory... you forget the truth and believe what makes you feel better.
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Rick Riordan (The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #1))
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Once lucky, twice confident, and thrice dead.
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Terry Goodkind (Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth, #3))
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The most important rule there is, the Wizard's Sixth Rule: the only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.
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Terry Goodkind (Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth, #6))
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I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off.
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George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
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Wizard's Fourth Rule There is magic in sincere forgiveness; in the forgiveness you give, but more so in the forgiveness you receive.
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Terry Goodkind (Temple of the Winds (Sword of Truth, #4))
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Not everyone is willing to embrace liberty; liberty requires not just effort, but risk. Some people choose to delude themselves and see their chains as protective armor.
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Terry Goodkind (Chainfire (Sword of Truth, #9))
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The truth shall make you free, but first it will make you miserable.
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Douglas Preston (Gideon's Sword (Gideon Crew, #1))
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In the darkest hours we must believe in ourselves.
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Terry Goodkind (Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth, #6))
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There is no such thing as pure good or pure evil, least of all in people. In the best of us there are thoughts or deeds that are wicked, and in the worst of us, at least some virtue. An adversary is not one who does loathsome acts for their own sake. He always has a reason that to him is justification. My cat eats mice. Does that make him bad? I don't think so, and the cat doesn't think so, but I would bet the mice have a different opinion.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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Everything is valuable under the right conditions. To a man dying of thirst, water be more precious than gold. To a drowning man, water be of little worth and great trouble.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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Only a fool walks into the future backwards.
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Terry Goodkind (Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth, #2))
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The Wizard's First Rule: People are stupid; given proper motivation almost anyone will believe almost anything.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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Wrong doing must be punished. If not, it will proliferate until anarchy wears the robes of tolerance and understanding.
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Terry Goodkind (Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth, #3))
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she was too much of a warrior to be considered a princess she never cared for the crown she preferred a sword
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R.H. Sin
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The sun is simple. A sword is simple. A storm is simple. Behind everything simple is a huge tail of complicated.
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Terry Pratchett (I Shall Wear Midnight (Discworld, #38; Tiffany Aching, #4))
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Right and wrong are not the product of census.
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Terry Goodkind (Naked Empire (Sword of Truth, #8))
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Wizard's Third Rule Passion rules reason, for better or for worse.
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Terry Goodkind (Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth, #3))
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Wizard's Tenth Rule Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one's self.
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Terry Goodkind (Phantom (Sword of Truth, #10))
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Wizard's Seventh Rule Life is the future, not the past.
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Terry Goodkind (The Pillars of Creation (Sword of Truth, #7))
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Bags, and Double Bags!" - Zedd
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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A double-edged sword One side destroys One releases I am your Gordian knot Will you release or destroy me? Follow truth and you shall: Find me on water Purify me through fire Trapped by earth nevermore Air will whisper to you What spirit already knows: That even shattered anything is possible If you believe Then we shall both be free.
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P.C. Cast (Burned (House of Night, #7))
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People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People’s heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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Being afraid something is true is accepting the possibility. Accepting the possibility is the first step to believing.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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Kahlan guide me. Kahlan teach me. Kahlan protect me. In your light I thrive. In your mercy I am sheltered. In your wisdom I am humbled. I live only to love you. My life is yours.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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We reap a reward merely in the act of helping others. We never know how, or if, that reward will come back to us. Helping is the reward; none other is needed nor better.
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Terry Goodkind
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But this was no ordinary chicken. This chicken was evil manifest.
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Terry Goodkind (Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth, #5))
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Even a foolish old woman like me knows that lazy people don't think for themselves; they only think about themselves.
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Terry Goodkind (Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth, #3))
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She looked so beautiful in the moonlight, but it wasn't only the way she looked, it was what was inside her, everything from her intelligence and courage to her wit, and the special smile she gave only to him. He would slay a dragon, if there were such a thing, just to see that smile. He knew he would never want anyone else for as long as he lived. He would rather spend the rest of his life alone than with someone else. There could be no one else.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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I'd rather look a fool than be right and fail to act.
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Terry Goodkind (Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth, #5))
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Oh, I think not,” Varys said, swirling the wine in his cup. β€œPower is a curious thing, my lord. Perchance you have considered the riddle I posed you that day in the inn?” β€œIt has crossed my mind a time or two,” Tyrion admitted. β€œThe king, the priest, the rich manβ€”who lives and who dies? Who will the swordsman obey? It’s a riddle without an answer, or rather, too many answers. All depends on the man with the sword.” β€œAnd yet he is no one,” Varys said. β€œHe has neither crown nor gold nor favor of the gods, only a piece of pointed steel.” β€œThat piece of steel is the power of life and death.” β€œJust so… yet if it is the swordsmen who rule us in truth, why do we pretend our kings hold the power? Why should a strong man with a sword ever obey a child king like Joffrey, or a wine-sodden oaf like his father?” β€œBecause these child kings and drunken oafs can call other strong men, with other swords.” β€œThen these other swordsmen have the true power. Or do they?” Varys smiled. β€œSome say knowledge is power. Some tell us that all power comes from the gods. Others say it derives from law. Yet that day on the steps of Baelor’s Sept, our godly High Septon and the lawful Queen Regent and your ever-so-knowledgeable servant were as powerless as any cobbler or cooper in the crowd. Who truly killed Eddard Stark, do you think? Joffrey, who gave the command? Ser Ilyn Payne, who swung the sword? Or… another?” Tyrion cocked his head sideways. β€œDid you mean to answer your damned riddle, or only to make my head ache worse?” Varys smiled. β€œHere, then. Power resides where men believe it resides. No more and no less.” β€œSo power is a mummer’s trick?” β€œA shadow on the wall,” Varys murmured, β€œyet shadows can kill. And ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow.” Tyrion smiled. β€œLord Varys, I am growing strangely fond of you. I may kill you yet, but I think I’d feel sad about it.” β€œI will take that as high praise.
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George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
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All men are fools, if truth be told, but the ones in motley are more amusing than ones with crowns.
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George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
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Everybody knows it. Wizards are supposed to have beards. It's common knowledge.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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The way the world is made. The truth is all around you, plain to behold. The night is dark and full of terrors, the day bright and beautiful and full of hope. One is black, the other white. There is ice and there is fire. Hate and love. Bitter and sweet. Male and female. Pain and pleasure. Winter and summer. Evil and good.” She took a step toward him. β€œDeath and life. Everywhere, opposites. Everywhere, the war.
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George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
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...think of the solution, not the problem. If your mind was filled only with thoughts of why you were going to lose, then you couldn't think of how to win.
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Terry Goodkind (Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth, #3))
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I am dead. Only vengeance can restore me! Only victory can return my life to me!
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Terry Goodkind (Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth, #2))
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We all can be no more, or less, than who we are.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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Honor is honesty to what is, not blind duty to what you wish to be.
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Terry Goodkind (Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth, #6))
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If something is wrong, it matters not if a thousand men are for it; you must still oppose it. If something is just, no amount of popular outcry should stay you from your course.
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Terry Goodkind (Naked Empire (Sword of Truth, #8))
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Listen, son… when I was your age, I had to face truths that seemed to break the world. That’s what happens when you come into contact with people who aren’t quite like you. You learn over time that the world isn’t broken. It’s just… got more pieces to it than you thought. They all fit together, just maybe not the way you pictured when you were young.
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M.L. Wang (The Sword of Kaigen)
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You spoke the truth, Percy Jackson. You are nothing like... like Hercules. I am honored that you carry this sword.
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Rick Riordan (The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #3))
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There is no place so dangerous as a world without magic.
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Terry Goodkind (Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth, #5))
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Grrratch luuug Raaaach aaarg
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Terry Goodkind (Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth, #2))
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Half-truths are worth more than outright lies.
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George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
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Why ask for truth when you close your ears to it? - Ser Barristan Selmy to Daenerys
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George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3: Part 1 of 2))
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I wish people had half the honor of dragons.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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Sometimes that's all life is... One desperate act after another.
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Terry Goodkind (Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth, #2))
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Laugh all you want. I know my own worth and don't need to prove it to someone who doesn't know theirs.
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Terry Goodkind (Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth, #6))
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You can destroy those who speak the truth, but you cannot destroy the truth itself
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Terry Goodkind (The Omen Machine (Sword of Truth, #12; Richard and Kahlan, #1))
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The first law of reason is that what exists, exists; what is, is, and that from this ineducible, bedrock principle, all knowledge is built...that is the foundation from which life is embraced... thinking is a choice...wishes and whims are not facts, nor are they a means to discover them... reason is our only way of grasping reality--it's our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking--to reject reason--but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss we refuse to see... Reason is the very substance of truth itself. The glory that is life is wholly embraced through reason. In rejecting reason one embraces death.
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Terry Goodkind (Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth, #6))
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Wizard's Eighth Rule Talga Vassternich. (Deserve Victory)
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Terry Goodkind (Naked Empire (Sword of Truth, #8))
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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Anonymous (The Holy Bible: King James Version)
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William," the professor said, softly, "what now is your weapon?"...."Truth," he whispered, his voice rasping. He cleared his throat. "Truth is my sword." ...."And what now is your defense?" Colour returned to Billy's face, and his jaw tightened. His voice surged with emotion. "Faith...faith is my shield.
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Bryan Davis (The Candlestone (Dragons in Our Midst, #2))
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Once committed to fight, cut. Everything else is secondary. Cut. That is your duty, your purpose, your hunger. There is no rule more important, no commitment that overrides that one. Cut. Cut from the void, not from bewilderment. Cut the enemy as quickly and directly as possible. Cut decisively, resolutely. Cut into the enemy’s strength. Flow through the gaps in his guard. Cut him. Cut him down utterly. Don’t allow him a breath. Crush him. Cut him without mercy to the depths of his spirit." -Richard Rahl
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Terry Goodkind (Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth, #6))
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… many people must be ruled to thrive. In their selfishness and greed, they see free people as their oppressors. They wish to have a leader who will cut the taller plants so the sun will reach them. They think no plant should be allowed to grow taller than the shortest, and in that way give light to all. They would rather be provided a guiding light, regardless of the fuel, than light a candle themselves.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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If you care about yourself, you should care about learning - even learning simple things. You come to have pride in yourself only by accomplishing things, even from fixing some old stairs...Others can't grant you self-respect, even others who care about you. You have to earn self-respect yourself.
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Terry Goodkind (Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth, #6))
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By my love for you. I realized I loved you more than life itself, and I would rather give myself into your power than live without you. Nothing the magic could do to me could be worse than living without you. I was willing to give it all over to you. I offered the power everything I have. All of my love for you. Once I realized how much I loved you, I was willing to be yours on any terms. I understood that there could be nothing for the magic to harm. I’m already devoted to you; it didn’t need to change me. I was protected, because I have already been untouched by your love. I had utter faith that you felt the same, and had no fear of what would happen. Had I had any doubt, the magic would have latched on to that crack and taken me, but I had no doubt. My love for you is smooth and seamless. My love for you protected me from the magic.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))
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If you want to be a slave in life, then continue going around asking others to do for you. They will oblige, but you will find the price is your choices, your freedom, your life itself. They will do for you, and as a result you will be in bondage to them forever, having given your identity away for a paltry price. Then, and only then, you will be a nobody, a slave, because you yourself and nobody else made it so.
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Terry Goodkind (The Pillars of Creation (Sword of Truth, #7))
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Swamp Thing, in Hell: "Demon...How...could God...allow such a place? Etrigan: Think you God built this place, wishing man ill and not lusts uncontrolled or swords unsheathed? Not God, my friend. The truth's more hideous still: These halls were carved by men while yet they breathed. God is no parent or policeman grim dispensing treats or punishments to all. Each soul climbs or descends by its own whim. He mourns, but He cannot prevent their fall. We suffer as we choose. Nothing's amiss. All torments are deserved...
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Alan Moore
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Are we our bodies? Is a small person less than a big person, then? If we were our bodies, then when we lost an arm, or a leg, would we be less, would we begin to fade from existence? No. We are the same person. We are not our bodies; we are our thoughts. As they form, they define who we are, and create the reality of our existence.
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Terry Goodkind (Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth, #3))
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Do ye dare to draw arms against the justice of God?" snapped the tubby little judge. Jamie drew the sword completely, with a flash of steel, then thrust it point-first into the ground, leaving the hilt quivering with the force of the blow. "I draw it in defense of this women, and the truth," he said "If any here be against those two they'll answer to me, and then God, in that order.
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Diana Gabaldon (Outlander (Outlander, #1))
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People use democracy as a free-floating abstraction disconnected from reality. Democracy in and of itself is not necessarily good. Gang rape, after all, is democracy in action. All men have the right to live their own life. Democracy must be rooted in a rational philosophy that first and foremost recognizes the right of an individual. A few million Imperial Order men screaming for the lives of a much smaller number of people in the New World may win a democratic vote, but it does not give them the right to those lives, or make their calls for such killing right. Democracy is not a synonym for justice or for freedom. Democracy is not a sacred right sanctifying mob rule. Democracy is a principle that is subordinate to the inalienable rights of the individual.
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Terry Goodkind (Naked Empire (Sword of Truth, #8))
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Faith and feelings are the warm marrow of evil. Unlike reason, faith and feelings provide no boundary to limit any delusion, any whim. They are virulent poison, giving the numbing illusion of moral sanction to every depravity ever hatched. Faith and feelings are the darkness to reason’s light. Reason is the very substance of truth itself. The glory that is life is wholly embraced through reason. In rejecting it, in rejecting reason, one embraces death.
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Terry Goodkind (Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth, #6))
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We are Knights of the Trinity, Angels of the Third Realm of Heaven Warriors of The Almighty Defenders of Righteousness, Truth. And Justice Protectors of the Weak and Downtrodden Guardians of the realms of men. We pledge our spirits, our swords, and our shields in service, Not for glory, not for pride, but for the honor to serve the Most-High May the forces of Darkness tremble in our wake and die at our hands! We are the Chosen Twelve, the Blessed, the Mighty War-riors of the Everlasting Order Hazah! Hazah! Hazah!
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J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
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Our government rests upon religion. It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for equality and liberality, and for the rights of mankind. Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government. There are only two main theories of government in our world. One rests on righteousness and the other on force. One appeals to reason, and the other appeals to the sword. One is exemplified in the republic, the other is represented by despotism. The government of a country never gets ahead of the religion of a country. There is no way by which we can substitute the authority of law for the virtue of man. Of course we endeavor to restrain the vicious, and furnish a fair degree of security and protection by legislation and police control, but the real reform which society in these days is seeking will come as a result of our religious convictions, or they will not come at all. Peace, justice, humanity, charityβ€”these cannot be legislated into being. They are the result of divine grace.
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Calvin Coolidge
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A belligerent samurai, an old Japanese tale goes, once challenged a Zen master to explain the concept of heaven and hell. The monk replied with scorn, "You're nothing but a lout - I can't waste my time with the likes of you!" His very honor attacked, the samurai flew into a rage and, pulling his sword from its scabbard, yelled "I could kill you for your impertinence." "That," the monk calmly replied, "is hell." Startled at seeing the truth in what the master pointed out about the fury that had him in its grip, the samurai calmed down, sheathed his sword, and bowed, thanking the monk for the insight. "And that,"said the monk "is heaven." The sudden awakening of the samurai to his own agitated state illustrates the crucial difference between being caught up in a feeling and becoming aware that you are being swept away by it. Socrates's injunction "Know thyself" speaks to the keystone of emotional intelligence: awareness of one's own feelings as they occur.
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Daniel Goleman (Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ)
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The young must grow old Whilst old ones grow older. And cowards will shrink As the bold grow bolder. Courage may blossom in quiet hearts, For who can tell where bravery starts? Truth is a song, oft lying unsung, Some mother bird protecting her young. Those who lay down their lives for friends, The echo rolls onward, it seldom ends. Who never turned and ran, but stayed? This is a warrior, born, not made. Living in peace, aye many a season, Calm in life and sound in reason, Till evil arrives, a wicked horde Driving the warrior to pick up his sword The challenger rings then, straight and fair, Justice is with us, beware, beware.
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Brian Jacques
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Truths turn into dogmas the instant that they are disputed. Thus every man who utters a doubt defines a religion. And the scepticism of our time does not really destroy the beliefs, rather it creates them; gives them their limits and their plain and defiant shape. We who are Liberals once held Liberalism lightly as a truism. Now it has been disputed, and we hold it fiercely as a faith. We who believe in patriotism once thought patriotism to be reasonable, and thought little more about it. Now we know it to be unreasonable, and know it to be right. We who are Christians never knew the great philosophic common sense which inheres in that mystery until the anti-Christian writers pointed it out to us. The great march of mental destruction will go on. Everything will be denied. Everything will become a creed. It is a reasonable position to deny the stones in the street; it will be a religious dogma to assert them. It is a rational thesis that we are all in a dream; it will be a mystical sanity to say that we are all awake. Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four. Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer. We shall be left defending, not only the incredible virtues and sanities of human life, but something more incredible still, this huge impossible universe which stares us in the face. We shall fight for visible prodigies as if they were invisible. We shall look on the impossible grass and the skies with a strange courage. We shall be of those who have seen and yet have believed.
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G.K. Chesterton (Heretics)
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Julian,” said Jia, in the same gentle voice, β€œwould you do something for us? Would you take up the Mortal Sword?” Clary sat up straight. She had held the Mortal Sword: she had felt the weight of it. The cold, like hooks in your skin, dragging the truth out of you. You couldn’t lie holding the Mortal Sword, but the truth, even a truth you wanted to tell, was agony. β€œThey can’t,” she whispered. β€œHe’s just a kid —” β€œHe’s the oldest of the kids who escaped the Institute,” Jace said under his breath. β€œThey don’t have a choice.” Julian nodded, his thin shoulders straight. β€œI’ll take it.” Robert Lightwood passed behind the podium then and went to the table. He took up the sword and returned to stand in front of Julian. The contrast between them was almost funny: the big, barrel-chested man and the lanky, wild-haired boy. Julian reached a hand up and took the sword. As his hand closed around the hilt, he shuddered, a ripple of pain that was quickly forced down. Emma, behind him, started forward, and Clary caught a glimpse of the look on her face β€” pure fury β€” before Helen caught at her and pulled her back.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6))
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I have seen a land shining with goodness, where each man protects his brother's dignity as readily as his own, where war and want have ceased and all races live under the same law of love and honour. I have seen a land bright with truth, where a man's word is his pledge and falsehood is banished, where children sleep safe in their mother's arms and never know fear or pain. I have seen a land where kings extend their hands in justice rather than reach for the sword; where mercy, kindness, and compassion flow like deep water over the land, and men revere virtue, revere truth, revere beauty, above comfort, pleasure or selfish gain. A land where peace reigns in the hill, and love like a fire from every hearth; where the True God is worshipped and his ways acclaimed by all.
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Stephen R. Lawhead (Arthur (The Pendragon Cycle, #3))
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The Screelings are loose and the Keeper may win. His assassins have come to rip off your skin. Golden eyes will see you if you try to run. The screelings will get you and laugh like it's fun. Walk away slow or they'll tear you apart, and laugh all day long as they rip out your heart. Golden eyes will see you if you try to stand still. The screelings will get you, for the Keeper they kill. Hack 'em up, chop 'em up, cut 'em to bits, or else they will get you while laughing in fits. If the screelings don't get you the Keeper will try, to reach out and touch you, your skin he will fry. Your mind he will flail, your soul he will take. You'll sleep with the dead, for life you'll forsake. You'll die with the Keeper till the end of time. He hates that you live, your life is the crime. The screelings might get you, it says so in text. If screelings don't get you the Keeper is next, lest he who's born true can fight for life's bond. And that one is marked; he's the pebble in the pond.
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Terry Goodkind (Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth, #2))
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She stood straight and still, her arms at her side. Her eyebrows had the graceful arch of a raptor's wings in flight. Her green eyes came unafraid to his. The connection was so intense that it threatened to drain his sense of self. He felt that he had always known her, that she had always been a part of him, that her needs were his needs. She held him with her gaze as surely as a grip of iron would, searching his eyes as if searching his soul, seeking an answer to something. I am here to help you, he said in his mind. He meant it more than any thought he had ever had. The intensity of her gaze relaxed, loosening its hold on him. In her eyes he saw something that attracted him more than anything else. Intelligence. He saw it flaring there, burning in her, and through it all he felt an overriding sense of her integrity. Richard felt safe.
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Terry Goodkind (Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1))