"Some promises are best broken. Trust me on this: I’m a politician."

Alastair Reynolds Literature See all quotes by Alastair Reynolds →

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“She wondered if she could put a dart in his eye. It would not kill him, but it might take the edge off his cockiness.”

“His parents had abdicated responsibility to an illusion.”

“But make no mistake. My counterpart is capable of a great deal of ruthlessness in pursuit of a just cause. He believes he has right on his side. And men who think they have right on their side are always the most dangerous sort.”

“I felt a terrible sadness open inside me, a void through which the winds from the end of the universe were blowing.”

“The future might have been crammed with miracles and wonders, but it also offered truly awesome opportunities for screwing up.”

“Sorry, Campion, but we can’t trust Lady Luck any more. Lately she’s taken to pissing on us from a great height.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Luis Miguel had the pride of the devil and a feeling of absolute superiority that was justified in many things. He had said so long that he was the best that he really believed it. He had to believe i…"

— Ernest Hemingway

Literature1899–1961

#faith

"There is...a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I and others have been waging in America. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle…"

— Martin Luther King

Social Activism1929–1968

#money

"How, then, shall a Christian bear fruit? By efforts and struggles to obtain that which is freely given; by meditations on watchfulness, on prayer, on action, on temptation, and on dangers? No, there m…"

— Harriet Beecher Stowe

Literature1811–1896

#Philosophy

"Although styles of leadership change with the times, one constant remains: people are always ambivalent about those in power. They want to be led but also to feel free; they want to be protected and e…"

— Robert Greene (American author)

Literature1959–1978

#power