I am a great lover of fantasy, having read Dragonlance, FR, Robin Hobb, Trudi Canavan, Elizabeth Haydon, Sherwood Smith, Mercedes Lackey, LotR, aSoIaF and other worlds. Also Historic Novels, with Sharon Kay Penman and Elizabeth Chadwick my favorites there. I also like Sailor Moon, and a few other Japanese and Japanese-style manga. I also write several Fan Fics, not all of which I publish. I don't always have access to Internet, and am working on several Fan Fics at the same time, along with learning and reading many books, I hope you will forgive me when it takes me time to write a new chapter. If you want, don't be afraid to send me a message.

My Personal Challenges (Things I wish I could write, but anyone's welcome):
1) Traditional 'Bellatrix is a good gal forced by marriage contract to be evil'. Rodolphus dies before she does anything too bad. Accompanies Voldemort to Potter's. He dies, she decides to raise Harry properly. Sirius is actually somewhat responsible, and joins her. They go to Japan, and try to raise Harry there. Bonus points for Bella discovering she's bi, and describing the advantages of of Wizarding Japan - a self-made society, where noble houses recruit anyone successful/smart, and adopt them as part of the house. Also for Japanese magic.

2) Generally canon-compliant (except for the following, of course). Background: Sirius had an unknown daughter, result of a fling with a CIA agent. The Agent knows of magic (the government in the US actually working closely with the magical community there). Sirius's daughter gets to know Sirius when he escapes. Comes to help the war effort after he dies - having trained both in magic and in spying. Befriends Harry, but is older. Doesn't go to Hogwarts, but in (Harry's) 6-7th year works for the Order. Has sex with Draco to get info, has a baby. Draco finds out, and when the baby's two, kidnaps her. Moves to the US with wife, to escape detection. Sirius's daughter keeps looking, while working for magical CIA/FBI/NSA/etc. When the girl is 16, gets thrown out of the house after fight with Draco (bonus points if it's because she explores her sexuality as a result of going to Salem Witches Academy/Does Muggle things). Goes on a drinking binge, attack some agents with drunken magic, leading to her arrest. Her mother finds her this way. This is where the story starts. I planned on politics - the Lady of the House of Black and her heir, Draco's daughter having been trained by Narcissa, etc. Possible falling out with Harry - "his god-sister has a daughter by his worst enemy?!", etc. Bonus points if Daphne Greengrass (Draco's sister-in-law) is a supermodel working in the muggle world, with her lover Tracey Davis (female, you people who can't recognize gender) as her assistant (idea borrowed from Clell), and they're both friends to Sirius's daughter, which complicates things, what with Daphne being Draco's sister-in-law.

3) A Star wars fanfic requiring at least working knowledge of KotOR I and II. An young/middle-aged Echani Jedi, master of weapons (hey, he's Echani) feels that he doesn't have complete understanding of the Force. He gets leave from the Council, and goes off. Spends some time in the Outer Rim, and eventually follows up on Revan's trail (Malachor V, Korriban, etc). Learns of the history of Revan, Kreia and the Exile (finds their tombs with holocrons?). Realizes from the history and holocrons that the true view of the Force is between the Potentium and the Insidious Force (check it out on Wookiepedia, if you need to). Realizes that by accepting that the Force is alive, and has a purpose, you become a tool of it, and gain limitless (?) control of the Force (Limited by your body?). With this new understanding, returns to the Council. Know that if he tells them this - he'll be banished from the Order. So instead lies, and starts seeking out other Jedi who understand and agree, forming an 'order within the order' (I'd like if Shaak Ti was part of this - always loved her. Qui-Gon as well - it seems to fit his philosophy). Continue from here as you wish - this is before Episode I. If Qui-Gon is part of it, all of Episode I may be changed, etc.

Bible:

"This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, despises thee, and laughes thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head at thee."- Isaiah XXXVII, 22.

"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life." - Isaiah XL, 2-4.

"Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.
Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity.
And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day.
And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." - Isaiah LVIII, 8-11.

"The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." - Isaiah LX, 19-20.

"And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live." - Ezekiel XVI, 6.

"And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty; for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." - Ezekiel XVI, 14.

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God."- Amos IX, 13-15.

"And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver." - Micah V, 7-8.

"And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the Shofar, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south." - Zechariah IX, 14.

"I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me, and I shall give the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." - Psalms II, 7-8.

"But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?" - Psalms L, 16.

"Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known." - Psalms LXXVII, 19.

"Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly.
How much less them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation in the dust, are crushed before the moth?" - Eliphaz the Temanite, Job IV, 17-19.

"What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?" - Eliphaz the Temanite, Job XV, 14-16.

"Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;
Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.
Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?" - Eliphaz the Temanite, Job XXII, 10-13.

"How then can a man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight." - Bildad the Shuhite, Job XXV, 4-5.

"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" - G-d, Job XXXVIII, 5-7.

"Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder?" - G-d, Job XXXVIII, 22-25.

"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners?" - Song of Songs, VI, 10.

"Yea, though he live a thousand years twice, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?" - Ecclesiastes VI, 6.

Last Words:

"To the strongest!" - Alexander the Great.

"Maybe someday, Justice and Humanity will live anew." - Anna Trauman, a lesbian Jew killed in the Holocaust, in her last letter to her partner Stephanie.

"Now, now, my good man, this is no time for making enemies." - Voltaire (attributed), when asked by a priest to renounce Satan.

"I go to my God, but my heart is torn at leaving my country. Is Satan loose there? Is it a sin to refrain from striking one's brother for the good of his soul? I tell you, there is no war worse than the war when each man is fighting for Paradise." - Robert Reid, Bishop of Orkney, Checkmate.

A Song of Ice and Fire:

"And who are you, the proud lord said,
That I must bow so low?" - The Rains of Castamere, A Storm of Swords.

"By what right does the wolf judge the lion? By what right?!" - Ser Jaime Lannister, A Storm of Swords.

"What is our heart's desire?"
"Vengeance. Justice. Fire and Blood." - Arianne & Doran Martell, A Feast For Crows.

Discworld/Terry Pratchett:

"The big sea does not care which way the little fish swim."

Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in a cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying "End-Of-The-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH," the paint wouldn't even have time to dry. - Susan Sto-Helit, Thief of Time.

"You Shall Not Subject Your God To Market Forces." - The Great God Om, Small Gods.

"People do not understand the limits of tyranny. They think that because I can do what I like, I can do what I like. A moment's thought reveals, of course, that this cannot be so."
"Oh, it is the same with magic. If you flash spells around like there's no tomorrow, there's a good chance that there won't be." - Havelock Vetinari and Mustrum Ridcully, Unseen Academicals.

"Let's just say that if complete and utter chaos was lightning, he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting 'All gods are bastards'." - Rincewind, The Colour of Magic.

"This is the other end of the world, Father, it really is. This is the beginning. This... is the place where you might grant God absolution." - Daphne (Ermintrude) Fanshaw, Nation.

Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your own home. - Good Omens.

God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players, to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time. - Good Omens.
*ie., everybody.

“When much is taken, something is returned.” - Nation.

“Thinking. This book contains some. Whether you try it at home is up to you.” - Nation.

Forgotten Realms:

The Goddess is alive, and magic is afoot.

The elves of Cormanthor have always been known for their calm, measured responses to perceived threats. They often consider for half a day or more before going out and killing them. - Shalheira Talandren, Elminster In Myth Drannor.

"Let prudence never get in the way of fun!" - Amaranthae Auglamyr, Elminster In Myth Drannor.

"Sane is boring." - Jarlaxle Baenre.

I am the Storm Queen, and I never threaten. I promise. - Alassra Silverhand, Elminster In Hell.

"Let us say that we did battle, and I emerged the victor. By your reasoning, I would thus become the rightful King of Vaa-oh, wait. I see now. That would not serve, since I haven't the proper bloodline. What a cunning system you have there. You and all the other self-proclaimed royalty of Faerun. By your conditions, you alone are kings and queens and lords and ladies of court. You alone matter, while the peasant grovels and kneels in the mud, and since you alone are 'rightful' in the eyes of this god or that, then the peasant cannot complain. He must accept his muddy lot in life and revel in his misery, all in the knowledge that he serves the rightful king." - Artemis Entreri, Road of the Patriarch.

"If wolves force me to run with them, may I not take an occasional bite too?" - Alura 'Pennae' Durshavin, The Sword Never Sleeps.

"The day I need a staff is the day I die." - Amedahast, High Magess of Cormyr, Cormyr: A Novel.

"Mystery cloaks the walk of the Lady, for in her wake are secrets to be earned, not granted." - Gamalon Idolgyr, Blacksaff.

"Mystra sees and Mystra knows, every trouble found in her work, an oblation on the altar of stars." - Myaaklyr's Fourth Sermon from Myrjala to the Arathenes, Blackstaff.

"The door to truth opens with knowledge. The door to knowledge opens when you admit you do not understand." - Khelben 'Blackstaff' Arunsun, Blackstaff Tower.

"The Art that is true magic cares not a whit for the hands that wield it. It sings in the heart that embrace Art for her own sake, not the sake of power." - Zahyra Ithal, Annals of the First Vizera, Volume XXI, Blackstaff Tower.

"Know, O mages, that there is learning, and there is wisdom, and they are very far from being the same thing." - Azuth, the High One, Utterances from the Altar: Collected Verbal Manifestations of the Divine and Most Holy Lord of Spells.

"Sage? I'm a mere dabbler and an inveterate reader, 'tis all.” - Renaer Neverember, Blackstaff Tower.

Sharon Kay Penman:

"Stephen said 'Any debt I may have owed you, Cousin Maude, is now paid in full'."
"So he does have an unease of conscience about you!"
"His conscience be damned! He owes me more than debt. He owes me a crown." - Empress Matilda of England and Ranulf Fitz Roy, When Christ and His Saints Slept.

"How very reassuring. Knowing your treason was done for profit and not principle certainly sets my mind at ease." - Empress Matilda of England, When Christ and His Saints Slept.

"In time of war, the Devil makes more room in Hell." - Empress Matilda of England, When Christ and His Saints Slept.

"I was our father's firstborn son, but was I his heir? No, I was just his bastard. He trusted me and relied upon me and needed me. But none of that mattered, not even after the White Ship sunk and he lost his only lawfully begotten son. He was so desperate to have an heir of his body that he he dragged you back - unwilling - from Germany, forced you into a marriage that he knew was doomed, and then risked rebellion by ramming you down the throats of his barons. And all the while, he had a son capable of ruling after him - he had me! But I was the son born of his sin, so I was not worthy to be king. As if I could have blundered any worse than you or Stephen!" - Robert Fitz Roy, When Christ and His Saints Slept.

"The only voice he heeds these days is that of our saint in residence, who divides all of womankind into three categories: nuns, sluts and potential sluts. So I knew he'd look upon flirtation as only slightly less heinous a sin than sacrilege." - Eleanor of Aquitaine on Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, When Christ and His Saints Slept.

"Fortunately for the king and for France, he is now free of your unholy spell, free to choose a wife devout and docile and virtuous, a wife who will give him the heir you cannot."
"What a pity that the Blessed Virgin Mary is not available, for she would have suited his needs admirably." - Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux and Eleanor of Aquitaine, When Christ and His Saints Slept.

"I'm damned whether the Pope absolves me or not. The things I've done..."
"What things, Papa?"
"Things God could never forgive."
"That's not so, Papa. There is no sin so great that God could not forgive it."
"Do not believe it, lass, not for a moment! There is no forgiveness, either in this world or the next."
"You're wrong, Papa. I could forgive you any sin."
"No, lass. You could not.
If that mad old man be right, I'll have reigned for fourteen years. Passing strange, for it seems longer, much longer.
There is but one lesson worth learning, one you must teach your children, Joanna. That nothing in life turns out as we thought it would, nothing..." - King John of England and Joanna, Lady of Wales, Here Be Dragons.

"Shall I hear your confession now?"
"I think not. Better the Abbot be the one to absolve me of my sins. You see... you know me too well, would not... not believe me when I said I forgave my enemies..." - Peter des Roches and King John of England, Here Be Dragons.

"So you do not think I'm fit to rule? Well, go ahead. Have Davydd acknowledged by the English, by the Pope, the Marcher Lords. The Lord Jesus Himself can anoint him, for all I care. For it will avail you naught, old man. Your power stops this side of the grave. Once you're dead, I'll take what is rightfully mine. I'll take Gwynedd, and I'll take my vengeance." - Gruffydd ap Llewellyn, Here Be Dragons.

So many years ago, but Joanna could still hear her, hear peal after peal of that shrill, hysterical laughter, as her mother looked at her, at her bastard child, her "mistake". We pay and pay for our sins, she'd gasped. We pay and pay. - Here Be Dragons.

"Pride, no less than charity, covers a multitude of sins." - Joanna, Lady of Wales, Here Be Dragons.

Henry could hear again, with haunting clarity, his wife's bitter taunt. You've already lost what you value almost as much as your kingdom. You've lost your sons. - Devil's Brood.

"I cannot decide whether you're a complete fool or an utter cynic."- Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Brittany, Devil's Brood.

"From the Devil they come and to the Devil they will go." - Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, Devil's Brood.

"Do you know... what be the worst... worst sins?"
"No, Papa. What be the worst sins?"
"The worst be... those about to be found out." - Edward IV and Elizabeth of York, The Sunne In Splendour.

Order of the Stick:

"When I was young, I was the smallest and the weakest. They never let me play in all their halfling games, like Throw the Rock, or Throw the Stick, or Throw the Rock and Then the Stick Shortly Thereafter. All I wanted was to grow up to be a big strong adventurer and go out into the world where I would be accepted. And then, some day, I could return to my home village… and brutally murder them in their dreamless sleep." -Belkar Bitterleaf.

"Solve a man's problems with violence, help him for a day. Teach a man to solve his problems with violence, help him for a lifetime." - Belkar Bitterleaf.

"And once again, Probability proves itself willing to sneak into a back alley and serve Drama as would a copper-piece harlot." - Vaarsuvius.

"I'm a goddamn baby-making, life-taking MACHINE! Why should I care how many people I have to kill? I can just make more in my TUMMY!" - Kazumi Kato.

"Try ratcheting down the paranoia a little there..."
"Paranoia? I live in a city where I have to fake senility just to avoid being assassinated. I took Improved Paranoia like 5 levels ago." - Roy Greenhilt and Lord Shojo.

"The laws have no meaning! They were rewritten by the enemy himself over his 47 years on the throne! Only Honor and the will of the gods matters now!
As the highest-ranking paladin in the Sapphire Guard, I find you guilty of Treason!"
"Everything I did, I did for my people." - Miko Miyazaki and Lord Shojo.

"This is just like my high school prom all over again!"
"Awww, do you mean because all the other halflings got the girls?"
"No, I mean because they prevented me from stabbing anyone in the eye then too. The after-party, on the other hand..." - Belkar Bitterleaf and Elan.

"Be very quiet, Mr. Scruffy! If we make any noise, the magical Cart Fairy might not take us on the enchanted trip to Happy Fun Sunshine Land!"
"Look! A giant girl leprechaun! Let's find the end of the rainbow, Mr. Scruffy! I bet they have Skittles!"
"Hello magic scarecrows! You sure are getting close, aren't you?"
"Wheeeee!"
"I can fly!"
"Goodbye, Happy Fun Sunshine Land! Thanks for everything! I'll miss you most of all, scarecrows!" - Belkar Bitterleaf.

"As long as the people at the table see a fellow player across from them, they'll tolerate you. A crooked player is a pain in the ass, but someone who refuses to play at all makes them start questioning their own lives - and people HATE to think. They'd rather lose to a cheater than dwell too long on why they're playing in the first place."
"So you're saying that if I can trick all the of the other mindless drones into believing that I subscribe to their arbitrary moral framework, they'll just leave me alone?"
"They all assumed I followed the Paladin's Code, didn't they?"
"That makes so much sense... I finally understand what I need to be doing! In order to make it in this world - I need to pretend to have character growth!" - Lord Shojo and Belkar Bitterleaf.

"Tear down Creation just to see if you can." - Jephton the Unholy.

"Now if you don't mind, I am somewhat preoccupied telling the laws of physics to shut up and sit down." - Vaarsuvius.

"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero." - Vaarsuvius.

"Think about it. An epic for the ages! Father vs. son! Hero vs. villain! One rebel vs. the force of an empire! They'll tell stories about us until the end of history! My name will be immortalized forever!"
"As a villain!"
"So what? Audiences always think the villain is cooler than the hero, anyway. That's the beauty of it all, my son. If I win, I get to be a king. If I lose, I get to be a legend.
I'll inspire a thousand more leaders to follow in my footsteps. And it's all thanks to you, my boy.
Here's to us, Elan. We're going to tel the best story EVER." - Tarquin and Elan.

Star Wars:

"There is no passion… there is solely obsession.
There is no knowledge... there is solely conviction.
There is no purpose... there is solely will.
There is nothing… Only me." ―The Creed of Ruin.

"Revan had a mother and father, parents, ancestors, like all Jedi do. And when he awakened to his potential, I was there to see it. But where he was born, where he came from, I do not know… anymore than I know where he walks now. Some said that Revan was born in the Outer Regions, beyond the Rim, and that's what called to him during the Mandalorian Wars… and after. It was the call of home." - Kreia.

"Revan was power. It was like staring into the heart of the Force. Even then, you could see the Jedi he would slay etched on his soul." - Kreia.

"There is something that the Council may never understand. That perhaps Revan never fell. The difference between a fall and a sacrifice is sometimes difficult, but I feel that Revan understood that difference, more than anyone knew. The galaxy would have fallen if Revan had not gone to war. Perhaps he became the dark lord out of necessity, to prevent a greater evil." - Kreia.

"You were there at Malachor. Revan's choices were always his own. It was not teaching, or circumstance, or example. It was him." - Kreia.

"Honor is a fool's prize. Glory is of no use to the dead." - Darth Revan.

"Those who use the dark side are also bound to serve it. To understand this is to understand the underlying philosophy of the Sith." - Darth Revan.

"It is such a quiet thing, to fall. But far more terrible is to admit it." - Kreia to Atris.

"Know that much may happen here, but above all, do not forget this—you may trust in me. We cradle each other's lives, and what threatens one of us, threatens us both. And if you find you cannot trust me, trust in your training. Trust in yourself. Never doubt what you have done. All your decisions have brought you to this point." - Kreia.

"What do you wish to hear? That I once believed in the code of the Jedi? That I felt the call of the Sith, that perhaps, once, I held the galaxy by its throat? That for every good work that I did, I brought equal harm upon the galaxy? That perhaps the greatest of the Sith Lords knew of evil, they learned from me?" - Kreia.

"Learn from me, my mistakes, and use that knowledge to become greater than I. That is all I desire. In you all my hopes rest, for the future, for the Force." - Kreia.

"And what is it you think you have accomplished? If you seek to aid everyone that suffers in the galaxy, you will only weaken yourself … and weaken them. It is the internal struggles, when fought and won on their own, that yield the strongest rewards. You stole that struggle from them, cheapened it. If you care for others, then dispense with pity and sacrifice and recognize the value in letting them fight their own battles. And when they triumph, they will be even stronger for the victory." - Kreia to the Exile.

"If you are to truly understand, then you will need the contrast, not adherence to a single ideal." - Kreia on the Force and the Jedi Code.

"Perhaps you were expecting some surprise, for me to reveal a secret that had eluded you, something that would change your perspective of events, shatter you to your core. There is no great revelation, no great secret. There is only you…
In times past and in times future, there are Jedi who will stop listening to the Force, those that will try to forget it, but maintain unconscious ties. And those, as in the past just as I, who have had the Force stripped from them. But no Jedi ever made the choice you did. To sever ties so completely, so utterly, that it leaves a wound in the Force. It was a mistake to try to make you feel it again, I see that now. There is no truth in the Force. But there is truth in you, Exile. And that is why I chose you." - Kreia.

"You are greater than any I have ever trained. By killing me here—you have rewarded me more than you can possibly know." - Kreia.

"Revan knew that the true war is not against the Republic. It waits for us beyond the Outer Rim. And he has gone to fight it, in his own way. Perhaps you shall go there with him, and do battle at the end of all things. Instead, I remained here… and now show others the way." - Kreia.

"They will die a death that will last millennia, until all that remains is their code, their history, and in the end, the shell of their armor upon the shell of a man, too easily slain by Jedi." - Kreia on the future of the Mandalorians.

"Jinn always does things his own way, always sure he is right, always incredulous if we do not see it his way. Some think he is a gray Jedi." ― Tyvokka.

"Poor boy. The Sith always betray one another. I'm sure you'll find that out soon enough." - Shaak Ti to Galen Marek.

Kushiel Series:

"The game of thrones is a mortal one, my dear. Even if this gambit were to fail - and it will not - still, I have secured my endgame. My son, who is innocent in all things, stands third in line to the throne, the only scion of Courcel lineage untouched by treachery. No other member of House Shahrizai has achieved so much. But you... Kushiel has chosen you, Phedre, and marked you as his own. To toy with you is to play a god's game."
"You are mad."
"No. Only ambitious." - Melisande Shahrizai and Phèdre nó Delaunay, Kushiel's Chosen.

"The realm. Indeed. Is it in the interests of the realm that a single monarch hold the throne? Blessed Elua did not think so; 'twas his Companions who parceled the realm in jealous pieces. You seek to hold a prize given you by accident of birth, Ysandre de la Courcel. I seek to claim it by right of the wits with which I was born. Even the Doges of La Serenissima can point to the mandate of popular election to justify their power. Do not tell me you do not play my game." - Melisande Shahrizai, Kushiel's Chosen.

"I have only done what I was born to do. If the gods did not want it, they should not have made me." - Melisande Shahrizai, Kushiel's Avatar.

"You will wonder if I loved you. The answer is yes; a thousand times, yes." - Melisande Shahrizai, Kushiel's Justice.

"What does it mean to be innocent? It is impossible to move through this life without making choices that injure others. My choices were bolder than others'; and yet. If they had not chosen as they did, they would not have suffered for it. We are all driven by desires, some simple and some complex. In the end, we all make choices.
In the end, no one is truly innocent." - Melisande Shahrizai, Kushiel's Justice.

"I should speak of Phèdre nó Delaunay.
You will wonder, did I love her? No... and yes. I will tell you this, my son: I knew her. Better than anyone; better than anyone else." - Melisande Shahrizai, Kushiel's Justice.

Runaways:

"Our parents murdered that girl. We can't just let some giant monsters eat her soul, too."
"Whoa, hold on. I'm an agnostic. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to risk my life trying to rescue something I'm not even sure I believe in." - Karolina Dean and Gertrude Yorkes, Runaways: Teenage Wasteland.

"Really? That's inane. Most people in life don't have great power, and the few that do are almost never responsible with it. The people who have the greatest responsibility are the kids with no power because we're the ones who have to keep everybody else in check." - Gertrude Yorkes on the motto 'With Great Power comes Great Responsibility', Runaways: East Coast/West Coast.

"The future... is a threat... not a promise." - Gertrude Yorkes, Runaways: Parental Guidance.

"This is all we do! This is our life! We try to do something right, we mess it up, we die, we frikkin' die and we blame someone and then we do it all again."
"I don't know about you guys... but I totally want that on my tombstone." - Nico Minoru and Chase Stein, Runaways: Dead End Kids.

"This is our planet. Our history. We're living in history."
"Right. We're living in something I flunked. How do we make it go away?" - Karolina Dean and Chase Stein, Runaways: Dead End Kids.

"Whatever you're selling, we're not interested. Unless it's, you know, weed." - Chase Stein, Runaways: Dead End Kids.

"What about you? You're just going to walk away?"
"Take my advice. When the world goes crazy, you run... you runaway." - Patriot and Nico Minoru, Civil War: Young Avengers and Runaways.

"I won't have my bloodline diluted by the apathy and idiocy of a generation that engenders endless adolescence.I won't have my great-granddaughter live at the mercy of her humanity. I can make you better. Or kill you, if I'm wrong about your potential. What do you say? Do you think you're worth the wager?"
"Hit me." - The Witchbreaker and Nico Minoru, Runaways: Dead End Kids.

Fanfics (recommended):

“I want to know why you followed him,” she said.
“He was … my father.” - Eruanna Peredhel and Maglor Feanorion, Echoes of Shattered Glass.

Emily stared at her, at the ugly expression, the hate in it. "What are you?" She was a monster, whatever reasons she had for being so.
The nun flinched, as if hearing the accusation, and then she sneered. "God will judge me," she said calmly. "And I will judge him in return." - Demons, Part 1.

“No being is cruel merely for the sake of being so. They are as such because it serves a function- fulfills a need. All that you would deem evil is simply a means to gain power. To gain power over a single individual - or many. Power is all. Those you think evil are simply the only ones of your pathetic race wise enough to seek it. You seek to be good and moral. Those who hold themselves to such constructs are weak. They are weak because they lack the ability to take such power or they are simply ignorant of its necessity.” - Illyria, The Road to Redemption.

“What kingdom is Revlis El’inmilnum, Serenity, when its own gods turn against it?” - Ochas, Emperor-King of Areth, Revlis El'inmilnum.

"The Dark Lord is alive. Of course he's alive. It was an act of utter optimism for me to have even dreamed otherwise. I must have taken leave of my senses, I can't imagine what I was thinking. Just because someone said that his body was found burned to a crisp, I can't imagine why I would have thought he was dead. Clearly I have much left to learn about the art of proper pessimism" - Harry Potter-Evans-Verres, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.

"That explains the bright purple robes with stars, huh? He's like Elton John, just with a wand."
"Nah, Elton John has cooler glasses." - Violette Nowak and Hazel Frost on Albus Dumbledore, Holly, Phoenix, Diamond and Elm.

"Perhaps... well, one more slit throat will not add much weight to that which is already on my conscience. At least this one does not belong to an honest man who only was doing his duty. Le Bon Dieu would not have given us the Sacrament of Confession if He did not intend that sometimes we would use it." - Gerard Delacour, Harry's New Pets.

"I grew up and realized... there is no normal. There is only awesomeness, and those willing to handle the responsibilities that come with it." - Ruby Rose, Harry Potter and the Redheaded Alien Warrior.

Ty Lee knows what they say, beyond the islands of the Fire Nation. She's traveled to Kyoshi, to the glacial plains of the Water Tribes, and the shambled cities of the Earth Kingdom. She knows what they say about Ozai, his house, and the people they had lead. They look at them from steep mountains made from the tall towers of their foreign values. Adoration was a perversion of patriotism, fealty only being the chains of oppression. They called their devotion a product of brainwashing.
And at the same time, she remembers a very different story. Greatness was achieved, not inherited, and it felt like a lesson. For every young prince that had been born into his right to the crown, there had been someone else struggling, scheming, fighting their way into distinction and excellence, to reach a level of perfection that their elders and betters would deign to admire. Words like "talent" and "prodigy" meant training until sunset, studying through the night, blisters and broken bones, while others slept in beds of inheritance.
Adoration-to Ty Lee-had felt rather natural, instead of a perverse indoctrination of beliefs. - Memento Mori

"What do you want, Ty Lee?"
It's the same question as before, and Azula asks it in the same way. The edge is gone, not out of kindness, but out of desperation. She was looking for a real answer and not the one that Ty Lee was poised to give.
"Everybody wants something." She continues when Ty Lee takes too long to reply. "You're here because you want something. You just haven't figured out what it is yet." - Memento Mori.

"The Lady of Flames rises. You face a trial of grand proportions, mortal. And yours will not be the strength which can see you through. If she does not regain what the sundered king stole from her, I foresee that your rule will be very short indeed."
"I don't understand," Zuko said.
Wan Shi Tong turned his head so that it was facing backwards. Then, turned it back, with the same slow, creepy pace. "She dreams of lightning. She awakens." - Children of the War, Book 3: Fire.

When I hold fire in my hand I know that it's power, but does power corrupt? Or do we corrupt power? - Azula, ab igne ignem capere.

"You're not human," Min whispered.
"My, my. You have met my brother." Azula smiled, as if at a fond memory. "Do you know, he tried to tell people? But - well, you know, sibling rivalry. Fire Lord Sozin's line is the blood of heroes. Why, just look at all we've done for the world." - Embers.

Cold rage burned in Azula's heart. You're supposed to be sunshine. The wild wind, blowing where it will. You're not ever supposed to be afraid. Not of someone who isn't me. "He won't do that to you, Ty Lee. Do you hear me? The Avatar will never do that to you. I'll burn him alive first."
The acrobat sniffled. Scrubbed at her eyes, and gave Azula a watery smile. "You can be really scary. In a good way." She unfolded herself, serious. "That's why I couldn't let Zuko win. He's too nice. You say you'll stop Aang if he tries that, and you mean it." - Embers.

"Ty Lee, what's that they say about absolute power?"
"That it corrupts absolutely?"
"You know you have absolute power when you have the power to give it up... absolutely.
Father once told me about the nobles. He said, 'Wait until you are completely at their mercy. A cowardly noble will stab you in the back. A true noble will stab you in the front.' You did as I ordered, but you did not take advantage."
"I didn't stab you at all. So what does that make me?"
"Worthy enough to be... royalty." - Azula and Ty Lee, prends garde à toi.

"Are you saying I've grown some kind of spiritual breasts?" - Azula, The Avatar Snare.

"My daughter doesn't love me anymore, you bitch! My husband doesn't love our daughter! If you had your way he wouldn't love me either, you utter plague on the world!" - Isabella Cullen, Radiance.

“No, you’re wrong. There are two kinds of people in this world, Watson. The first, the common kind, believes that money is a currency, by which to acquire stuff, things. The second, understands that money is a tool by which to enslave the first kind of person.
The more people you have under you, the higher you are on the pyramid, the higher you are, the more accessible the world becomes. It is only once one reaches the zenith, the highest point, that one can truly understand the meaning of power.”
“Which is?”
“To live outside of human constrictions, of arbitrary laws and moral limitations. Can you imagine looking up and seeing only sky?” - Jamie Moriarty and Joan Watson, Of the Devil's Party.

“You don’t believe in happiness. Isn’t that what you told me? You only value power.”
“Yet here I stand, at the highest point of the world, staring up at the sky, and all I want is you.” - Joan Watson and Jamie Moriarty, Of the Devil's Party.

"The secret of being a child is never knowing that you will one day die. The secret of being an adult... is never forgetting that you once were immortal." - Anthy Himemiya, Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Ten Years After.

Was not the great Captain America himself programmed? Petrovitch asks, in conversation. Was he not a creature of his world, was he not raised on fairytales and the stuff of dreams, growing up as he did on streets where men and women died for want of assistance, where children starved through the winter, where the mansions of the Vanderbilts grew side by side with city slums, where billion dollar steel giants made decisions for millions, sitting at oysters and cigars with politicians in suits? Would the great Steve Rogers, Petrovitch asks, have become what he became if he had not been taught that his country was exceptional, that there is black and there is white, and that America is white every, every time?
You may even argue, Petrovitch says lightly, that what was done to him is crueller than anything we could have ever devised. That though we have dirtied our hands, though we have wiped thought and memory and torn girls apart from inside out, though we have made a man into a war crime, what was done to Steve Rogers was done at birth, and before birth, stretching back generation to generation, was done to his father and his father before him, all the way back to one Irish immigrant, who saw a world that could birth him anew. Dreams are cruel things. You may argue that we have taken away the asset's freedom. You may also argue that Steve Rogers never had a freedom to be taken away in the first place. On the facts, then, who is the monster?
The machine that wipes the man, the man who presses the button, or the idea encased in ink that shows us a glorified lie? - The Thrice-Tenth Kingdom.

“I never duel, Lady Pansy. I go all in, and I’m in it to win.” - Rupert Giles, Judgement Day.

"So, my youthful ones, I tell you, grow up, and be farmers of men." - Maito Gai, People Lie.

"This isn't some handshake deal, Neji. This is blood and power, blood for power, and it will give you things you never thought possible. There is a price, of course. There is always a price, but I don't think it's too much to pay." - Naruto Uzumaki, People Lie.

"Hinata punched the First Hokage in the back of the head." - The Girl Who Spun Through Time.

"Hinata is learning how to move between planes via directionally detonated chakra nukes." - ScreenXSurfer.

Sakura.
Delicate flower and enduring tree. Dancing flame and immutable earth. Passion and calculation. Artful elegance and brutal violence. Ephemeral and eternal, a kaleidoscope of self-referential contradictions stretching to the farthest corners of the universe, yet ending only in myself. - Sakura Haruno, Time Braid.

"Do you remember the Sakura that Naruto made? The girl with a heart big enough to love the whole world, and enough courage to face down the Kyuubi? We merged once, and because of that we'll always be connected. And when he hasn't summoned her in his loop, I can do it in ours.
"Oh, don't worry, our soul is only big enough for two aspects at a time. She can't manifest here tangibly right now. But she can lend me her dreams, and let me give her my nightmares to keep.
"She can lend me her hope, and take my hurts to herself. Lend me her joy, and love, and indomitable courage, and take all my moments of hatred and despair. Until the me that's standing here is a girl who's never given up...never given in to hate...and never known any pain deep enough to scar her soul." - Sakura Haruno, Time Braid.

I do not consent. I deny obligation. I refuse to comply.
I have signed no contract, offered no vow, accepted no bargain.
I refuse your power, reject your demands, spurn your influence. I am Sakura...
...and you are no part of me. Begone!" - Sakura Haruno, Time Braid.

You are my precious treasure, and never shall we part. I will guard you for all the ages of eternity, till the stars die and the twilight of the gods brings the end of all things. - Hinata Hyuga, Time Braid.

The gift of our clan is not sight alone, or even first. Rather, it is understanding. - Ririko Hyuuga, Cloud Hands.

"Ignore the hand..."
"Control the space." - Neji and Hinata Hyuuga, Cloud Hands.

My will is no weaker than yours, and my kingdom vast. You, and your speck of an island—you will never own me. And one day, I will have my due. And I shall be a better and a greater queen than you could ever dream. - Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, Nīðgæst.

“Drowzee put them all under with Hypnosis! They won’t be waking up for hours, you little brat, and that means you’re all alone!”
“You say that like it makes a difference. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve just been handed a target rich environment all to myself.” - Rocket Grunt and Weiss Schnee, Boldores and Boomsticks.

No, the crazy part, the absolutely gibbering insane part, was that one of them used to be mortal. An ordinary mortal ‘unicorn’, as the horned ones were called, had apparently achieved apotheosis through the power of… friendship?
What?
Oh, and there was also a Princess of Love, apparently. Because if socialization could grant you divine cosmic power, then why not basic reproductive instincts?!
Sauron found it all deeply offensive. As a being who had participated in the creation of the universe, born of the very thoughts of the Creator Himself, he very much resented any mortal being put on more-or-less equal footing with him, especially through such…saccharine means. - Reforged.

"To put it simply, war is atrocity. It is terror, murder, rape and theft that we have codified, legalized, wrapped up in pretty cloth and shiny medals, obfuscated its purpose using words like ‘justice’ and ‘honor.’
War twists us, distorts the nature and the fabric of society into something that fits its own needs. Over the centuries of civilization we have convinced ourselves—tricked ourselves—into thinking that war is the highest peak of aspiration. Not family, nor art nor faith nor science nor industry; these are all pushed aside because the ‘glory’ of fighting a war—not even winning a war, just fighting one—is the greatest and most important thing you will do in your life. To this end we put the effort and imagination of generations into creating engines of death that nearly destroyed us not only physically, but spiritually. When we woke up from what we had almost to ourselves, we beat our swords into plowshares and studied war no more." - Captain Jade Hasegawa, The Westerosi.

“Anthony, Darling…I’m truly sorry she doesn’t find you as interesting as you do her. And really, that’s a ridiculous notion because you’re fantastic. But although you are deserving of any woman on this planet, you are not entitled to any of them—their bodies or their hearts.” - Pamela Isley, Mad Love: The Final Chapter.

“Do you know what I’ve learned about Pam in the 50-something years we’ve known each other? I learned that she’s a caretaker. She wants to help things grow. Her plants, her kids, even you…that’s what she does in the Spring: helps her flowers grow. And in the Summer, she lives with them…she loves them…and then in the Fall she sits with them as they wilt. She knows that all of these stages are of equal importance.” - Selina Kyle, Mad Love: The Final Chapter.

“You have such a big heart, Pamela. Every day, you witness a million births and two million deaths. And you’re all alone with a head full of memories and a heart full of grief.” - Kara Danvers, Mad Love: The Final Chapter.

Spring friends found no hearths offered when the snows fell. - Summer Crowns, chapter 45.

"Thank you. You have been more a friend to me than I deserved."
"I wish you well, Hermione. I wish to god we are all three standing here again by the end of this day, but if we are not - "
"Then it has been both a great pleasure to be your friend, and a true privilege to have been your enemy." - Hermione Granger and Daphne Nott née Greengrass, Nobility.

“It was not the fighting that did it. Men kill each other wherever the sun rises. But we sailed, Stark. We saw beyond our keeps and the fields bordering it. We saw the world was great and our lives mere pittance. When we brought that home with us, all of us, there was sundering.” - Brynden 'Blackfish' Tully, Summer Crowns.

“Great deeds were done in the Stepstones. I was told of them in stories as a child. Yet the men came home, after.”
“Aye. We did, and look what came of it. Tywin Lannister and his brothers spilled blood, and brought that learning back to the west to infamy and song. Others saw instead a pack of grasping exiles on spits of rock could strike fear in Targaryen hearts, and though that pot was long in boiling we both saw it spill. Great lords sent great hosts, Eddard, and saw none of Aegon’s line would have been fit to bear the sword if the house still had it. The dragons were power spent, kept crowned only by oaths before the Mad King pissed away even that.”
“Jon Arryn would never have called his banners, had Aerys not acted the butcher.”
“I mean no slight to your foster-father, Eddard. Hoster played the same game, wedding my sweet Cat to your brother and trying to sell Lysa west before he found better bed in the Eyrie. There was war brewing even before Rhaegar raped his way to the doom of his line, alliances being struck far from King’s Landing. The pen had grown too weak to hold the stallions, Ned.”
“Men are not horses. An oath is an oath. It would have been great dishonour to breach the king’s peace, if the king were not mad and murderer.”
“The king’s peace. Look around you, Stark. That’s the stuff crowns are made of. Steel and blood. They set the gilding after, to make it sit easier on the brows of killers.”
“If host is all it takes to make a king, then all the world is but a butcher’s yard. It must mean more, Brynden. Lest we be nothing but tyrants, and we have hanged a great many of these.” - Eddard Stark and Brynden 'Blackfish' Tully, Summer Crowns.

“I spoke to your brother some. When he came to court Cat. Like all green boys he wanted stories. Bold one, and handsome. Good with a sword as well. Yet that was the sum whole of him.”
“The wolfsblood ran strong in him. But he was raised to rule. Northmen are prickly and quarrelsome. It takes strength to rule them.”
“Wolfsblood. As if there were sorcery in being a cunt. I’ve seen a hundred boys like him, Eddard, reckless and quick with steel. The lucky ones live long enough to wise up. The rest die young.” - Brynden 'Blackfish' Tully and Eddard Stark, Summer Crowns.

"Do you think we'll ever reach it?"
"Even if a man flies as high as the dragon, he'll never reach the sun. But it's a worthy venture."
"Why?"
"To mark each step towards infinity."
"You really are a gentle spirit.
How close have you been?"
"What?"
"How close have you been?"
"Kiss me again and I'll tell you." - Katara and Azula, Measure Each Step to Infinity.

"A thousand thousand voices cry out—for the destiny of all peoples is freedom, and this is a force, a force which intervenes in history in order to break down the structures of injustice, and topple empires." - Bail Organa, may you inherit his light.

“I can be a force. I can break, and topple, and I fight for that day you imagined, when people are free. Please, let that be good enough.” - Leia Organa Solo, may you inherit his light.

I have seen her with my own eyes, and no woman from our world walks as she, brash and unapologetic, arrogant and heedless of the rules that bind women to their cursed place in society. Even the costumed bohemians in the cities have nothing on such a creature, for even they cannot separate themselves from convention, so set they are on defying it in every way.
But she… she knows nothing of our chains.
She acts without a single thought, without rebellion even in her mind; to her, it is not defiance, it is simply existence—ordinary, unremarkable, to be the pinnacle of Woman in every way. - Isabel Maru on Diana Prince, No Name Face.

One has found you and learned your language so it can relay this message. Please listen.
The galaxy is dark, and empty, and cold. It spins inevitably toward death. You will die too, one day. Perhaps you will have longer than we have. We hope so. But one day you too must vanish.
Before that time comes, you must light the darkness. You must make the night less empty. We are all small, and the universe is vast. But a universe with voices saying "I am here" is far greater than a universe silent. One voice is small, but the difference between zero and one is as great as one and infinity.
We waited too long. Our voice is gone to echoes. Find others while there is still time. Make a chorus.
And if this finds you too late, and your time is also passing, please send this message on, so the next voice can speak against the darkness. - SCP-1281

“From the beginning of time until right now, everything that has ever happened was impossible until someone did it.” - Sarah "Scout" Mason, Heretical Edge.

"I will bloody ruin you."
"Then I beg your pardon now, because I doubt my destruction will bring you satisfaction." - Lady Augusta Longbottom and Lady Pansy Parkinson, The Commoner's Guide to Bedding a Royal.

"Ever since man has thought, he has asked questions. What is the meaning of life? How do we determine truth? Does truth even exist? What is justice? What is the nature of the universe? Time after time, mankind offers up an answer, and it suffices for a time, but time after time, each of these answers proves to be inadequate. The possibility that there are no answers lingers over humanity. It is one of the oldest answers in existence, the rejection of answers and intrinsic meaning. Perhaps we are merely apes and our lives have no purpose. But even if this is true, there are people whose optimism and hope burn so fervently that one is forced into belief. Even if there is no meaning in life, these people are so good and pure that one finds meaning within them. In short, they provide reason enough to live.
This, more than anything, gives me hope for the future. I do not know the ideologies of the future and the creeds for which blood will be spilled. I do not know the weapons that will be wielded in those distant wars. I do not know what strange and powerful science will come forth. But I do know that there will be people like her. And because of that, everything will turn out alright in the end." - Queen Elsa the Great of Arendelle, Ice on the Rhine.

"Why do you keep fighting?"
"Because of an oath I swore long ago. It was not an oath of enlistment with my right hand raised or an oath to my service. It was an oath to every person in need.
I swore on a little blue book that I would not give up on a cause unless I tried and was killed during the attempt. When storms ground the greatest air force of the world, when waves trap the navy to their moorings, when snow keeps the army from marching, there will come a call. A call for help.
A call that no one else would hear. I could pretend I could not hear it. I could pretend it was impossible to do so I shouldn't. But I won't.
I swore, with Mother Nature as my witness and my crew as my confidants, that I would provide aid. I swore to be always ready for the call, so when the winds turn against me and the seas try to sink me, I would go out. So that when Death himself tells me, 'this one is mine,' I would be there to wrench that victim from his clutches. Before I was XCOM, I was part of the United States Coast Guard. And We. Go. Out." - Random XCOM Medic, Tales From the Avengers.

Smoke is rising overland
Chimney, hearth and bed at hand
Home is there and there she stands
Lady waiting on her man;
Waiting by an open door,
In time of peace and time of war,
Waited there an age or more
Lovely lady wait no more
Oh...
One more step I can't go on-
I am far too woebegone!
And every path is overlong
for my feet to carry down;
Lady lay me, lay me down
Lady lay me, lay me down - Lharotte's Lament, The Glass Canon of Marian Mockingbird, commonly The Plainswalker's Song.

Miscallenous:

"Auta i lome!" - "Day shall come again!" - Hurin Thalion, The Silmarillion.

"You shall not long walk in the darkness. Farewell! And think not that our meeting was by chance; for the Dweller in the Deep moves many things in this land still. Anar Kaluva Tielyanna!" - Gelmir, Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin.

"The King may have some grievance in this, but not the one you speak of! To her at least I spoke long and often; to cold ears uncomprehending. As well might a truant boy talk of tree-climbing to a nurse anxious only about the tearing of clothes and the due time of meals! I love her, or I should care less. The past I will keep in my heart; the future is dead." - Anardil Aldarion, The Mariner's Wife.

The lord chamberlain said, "There have been arguments of late about whether virtue is inborn or acquired. What is your lordship's view?"
Lord Takanori said, "Pointless."
The chamberlain said, "If virtue is inborn, then training will avail us naught. If it is acquired, than an outcast can become the equal of a samurai."
Lord Takanori said, "The virtuous shit. The unvirtuous shit."
The chamberlain bowed respectfully and withdrew.
Lord Takanori returned his full attention to the scene before him and continued painting A View of Trees Obscuring Lady Shinku's Bath. - Suzume-no-Kumo, Cloud of Sparrows.

He was without sin, in the sense that he recognized none. - Francesca Giordano on Cesare Borgia.

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move." - Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

"The great strength of the free-market system is the fact that company executives don't need to know what's going on." - Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan.

"The world made me a whore, and I'll make it a brothel." - Claire Zachanassian, The Visit.

"A world whose fate rests in the hand of one is a world far too simple to be worth saving." - The Grandmother, Prophecy: Child of Earth.

"The stupidity level is so high already with the convocation that we already have, it seems almost dangerous to tempt fate by putting so many empty heads in one place at the same time. I'm afraid we're going to get sucked into a brainless vortex we won't be able to escape from." - Achmed the Snake, King of Ylorc, Destiny: Child of the Sky.

"All stories are lies. But good stories are lies made from light and fire. And they lift our hearts out of the dust, and out of the grave." - Martin Thole's son, Lucifer: Fireside Tales.

"And the elder kind came yet again, and sang to those who were left, O human women, we shared with you our world, and you have nearly unmade it, tell us the truth at last: Is sorrow borne in your seed?
Is sorrow borne in your seed?" - Kialen Cassad, The Fox.

"We've had a good relationship, and you are owed a debt of gratitude. The thing about gratitude is, when one tries to convert it into either money or blood it vanishes." - Harbormaster Garjath Dhalshev of Freedom Islands, Treason's Shore.

"We want to perform a work that people will point to, and say our name. A thing we make, or a thing we do." - Thog daughter of Pirog, Treason's Shore.

"So where will you go?"
"You have to ask? That black ship is waiting for me. I will sail it around the world."
"You mean Ramis' Knife? Or, what did Durasnir call it, the Sun-Dragon?"
"Sinna-Drakan. That's its old name. I've renamed it."
"What?"
"Can't you guess? Treason." - Indevan (Inda) Algara-Vayir and Savarend (Fox) Motredavan-An, Treason's Shore.

The whole summer lay ahead of me - time to rest, time to wait. And when the future comes - no matter what comes with it - I'll be smarter. I'll be stronger. I'll be ready - Cameron Morgan, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy.

"What makes you such a bitch, Emma?"
"Breeding, darling. Top class breeding." - Jean Grey and Emma Frost, New X-Men #116.

"We came, we saw, everything caught fire and we ran the fuck away." - Abigail Brand.

"We have a saying, my people. 'Don’t kill if you can wound, don’t wound if you can subdue, don’t subdue if you can pacify, and don’t raise your hand at all until you’ve first extended it'." - Diana Prince, Wonder Woman.

"With kindness comes naivete. Courage becomes foolhardiness. And dedication has no reward. If you can't accept any of that, you are not fit to be a magical girl." - Akemi Homura.

Don't forget.
Always, somewhere,
someone is fighting for you.
As long as you remember her,
you are not alone. - Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

"Long after you are dead, and this city is ashes, and your species is extinct... and this planet is a graveyard, and every star in its sky has gone dark, and all the universe beyond is lifeless and still... I will carry your memory with me, perfect in every detail, into the next universe. And I will see you then exactly as I see you now. Warm and passionate and violent and alluring and misguided and aroused and damaged and alive. From my point of view, you will never truly die, Kozue."- The Caged Demonwolf, Deflowered and Dispassionate, Empowered.

The sword. Every other weapon has another use. An axe can cut wood, a knife skin a sheep. Spears and bows are tools of the hunt.The sword is made for one thing alone: killing. Take up the sword, take up death. Take up the death of your enemies. Take up your own death. Killing and dying are one. Kill until you die. You are the sword. Steel does nothing; it is the hard heart that kills. - The Warmaster, Shadow's Son

Usagi’s heart is pure because she won’t sacrifice anyone other than herself. Haruka’s heart is pure because she would sacrifice anyone, including herself. Michiru’s heart is pure because there’s one person she would never sacrifice.

He wrote a cage and Elsa memorized it, and locked herself in. He gave her the gloves, and she put them on again, and again, until she had to let it go.
But the message matters, too. And he told her so, when he handed them over:
See, you’re good. - professorspork

Sure you can. Recall the old joke (it even appeared on nBSG) of "Would you sleep with me for a million dollars?" "I might" "Would you sleep with me for fifty dollars?" "Hell no! And why are you asking?" "Well, we've already determined you're for sale, now we're just haggling about the price..."
Everything is for sale. It's just that some prices are higher than others. I know mine. I want to wake up and have it be 2004 again. I want to make a phone call and hear her voice again, happy and healthy. I want her doctor to tell me that the chemotherapy succeeded.
That's my price.
What's yours? - EdBecerra.

"Secondly and more importantly, if you keep your moral code only when everything's going well for you, then you're shitty at keeping your moral code. How you behave when the galaxy is falling down around your ears speaks volumes about who you are as a person, a society and as a species." - Jade Hasegawa, The Westerosi.

"I can see your whole history in your eyes. You were born with nothing. So you've had to struggle and connive and claw your way to power. But true power, the divine right to rule, is something you're born with. The truth is: they don't know which one of us is going to be sitting down on that throne, and which of us is going to be bowing down. But I know, and you know." - Azula, Avatar: the Last Airbender.

"From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power, can stand up, will stand up. Slayers... every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?" - Buffy Summers.

"What in this world is stronger than love?"
"Time. Only time." - Harth Fray and Willow Rosenberg, Time of Your Life, Part II.

"Killing means never having to say you're sorry." - Richard the Warlock, Looking For Group.

"Authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from the threat of force." - Barbie, Toy Story 3.

"Do you think God stays in heaven because he too lives in fear of what he's created? Here on Earth?"—Dr. Romero, Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams.

The Sellplague began, for all intents and purposes, in the dominions of the Corporation. Greed murdered Good Design, unraveling common sense in the cosmos and destroying her dominion. At the same time, Sales Fears and Warcraft Envy happened into alignment. This cataclysmic coincidence led to upheaval, shaking apart the primeval order, opening up holes in wallets, and reshaping everything...

"If you see a gun on the wall in the first act, you better shoot anybody who goes near it in the third. Or at least secretly steal it in the second and make sure it's loaded." - Arden's Gun Law.
"If you see a gun on the wall in the first act, you already know things are going downhill from there. Don't wait. Just grab the gun and start shooting." - Ca'at's Gun Law.

"There is no triumph without risk, Colonel Ekstrom. Never trust a man who thinks there is. Down that road you arrive at John George. The elector of Saxony, who is about to discover that he is no longer the greatest of Germany's princes. And will soon enough discover—the stinking treacherous swine—that he is no prince at all. I remember all my wounds. Especially those in my back." - Gustavus Adolphus, 1633.

Damned names mean nothing. Since time immemorial regiments have been numbered according to their precedence in the Line. Nothing can alter the rightness of such a plan, and interfering boobies in the War Office can have no effect on my determination to ignore their damned machinery at all costs to myself. I will not come to anything called a Hampshire Regimental Dinner.
My compliments, Sir, and be damned. - Colonel Charles Poole, late of the 67th Foot.

Themis, Lady of Justice she, / Of sword and scales, of mete and bound
Weighs fact and law and holds the key / ‘til what is true and right is found.
Her sword upraised, her eyes unveiled / With one hand open, and one fist mailed.

"This is the covenant of autumn, its hard blessing;
what survives cannot survive unscathed" - Translations From the Mother Tongue, Sue Kwock-Kim.

When your father dies, say the Armenians,
your sun shifts forever
and you walk in his light. - Shifting the Sun, Diana Der-Hovanessian.

“In [fairy tales, power is rarely the right tool for survival. Rather the powerless thrive on alliances, often in the form of reciprocated acts of kindness —from beehives that were not raided, birds that were not killed but set free or fed, old women who were saluted with respect. Kindness sown among the meek is harvested in crisis.” — Rebecca Solnit, The Faraway Nearby

“But in the end, stories are about one person saying to another: This is the way it feels to me. Can you understand what I’m saying? Does it feel this way to you?” — Kazuo Ishiguro, in his Nobel prize (2017) acceptance speech.

"Your power destroys but mine restores. There is no wound you can inflict that I cannot heal." - Nia, Xenoblade Chronicles 2

You carry the devil's sword, you do the devil's work. Why you carry the sword is far less relevant than the mere fact that you carry it. - DracoDracul.

"Violence for violence is the rule of beasts." - Dream Barack Obama, by kumagawa.

"To become god is the loneliest achievement of them all" - Dream Barack Obama, by twofingerwhiskey's mother.

"When the weight of the world is on your shoulders, you learn." - Dream Barack Obama, by ari @losrsclub

When you pick up a sword for the first time you will be slow and awkward. This is frustrating, but refuse the temptation to try and become a “faster” fencer. Chasing after speed is like trying to catch smoke. If you try and pursue speed, all you will accomplish is haste. Haste is the enemy of 1st class fencing.
Speed is a lie the untrained mind tells itself when it sees an action it cannot follow. The truth is a combination of timing, control, and fluidity. Fluid motion, even done slowly, will always arrive before a hasty strike. Control will allow you to move without wasteful motion that will slow you down. Timing will eliminate the need to move fast almost entirely. There is no need to get somewhere fast so long as you get there at the right time.
Slow is steady, steady is smooth, smooth is fast. - fulminata2 and ladyoflate.

"If they are nipping at my heels, it is because they cannot reach any higher."

Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear intelligent until you hear them speak.

There are no stupid questions – just a bunch of inquisitive idiots.

Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

Living means constantly being besieged by idiocy.

“The world should have protected you, but you have been asked to protect it. What an honor. What an injustice.” - Melora (Brian Murphy), Not Another D&D Podcast, Ep. 86.

"Genoa would not hesitate to set the world on fire." - Pope Innocent VIII.

"Flee, we are in the hands of a wolf." - Giovanni de' Medici on the election of Rodrigo Borgia to Pope.

"My center is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am attacking." - Ferdinand Foche, Message to Marshal Joseph Joffre during the First Battle of the Marne.

We are in the chamber pot and about to be shat upon. - Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot on the Battle of Sedan.

"Beware of sentimental alliances where the consciousness of good deeds is the only compensation for noble sacrifices." - Otto von Bismarck.

"Assume the worst. Assume we are at war." - Queen Catherine Ironfist, The Restoration of Erathia: Long Live the Queen.

"In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it." - Erwin Rommel.

"May God have mercy on my enemies, because I won't." - George S. Patton.

"Have taken Trier with two divisions. What do you want me to do? Give it back?" - George S. Patton, replying to orders to bypass the German city of Trier because it would take four divisions to capture it.

"The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."- Carl von Clausewitz.

"He who has made no mistakes in war has never made war." - Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, Marshal of France.

Aldous Huxley said that an intellectual was a person who had discovered something more interesting than sex. A civilized person, it might be said, is someone who has discovered something more satisfying than combat. - John Keegan, A History of Warfare.

"What was gunpowder? Trivial. What was electricity? Meaningless. This Atomic Bomb is the Second Coming in Wrath!" - Winston Churchill.

"O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget Thee, do not forget me." - The Soldiers' Prayer, Jacob Astley, Baron Astley of Reading.

"A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for." - W. C. Fields.

"Chaos - where brilliant dreams are born."- The I Ching.

"Life is war against the malice of others." - Baltasar Gracian.

"Man exists only insofar as he is opposed." - Georg Hegel.

"Being unconquerable lies with yourself." - Sun-tzu, The Art of War.

"There is nothing impossible to him who will try." - Alexander of Macedon.

"If the mind is to emerge unscathed from this relentless struggle with the unforeseen, two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead." Carl von Clausewitz, Vom Kriege.

"He who fears being conquered is certain of defeat." - Napoleon Bonaparte, Political Aphorisms, Moral and Philosophical Thoughts.

“Those who hate most fervently must have once loved deeply; those who want to deny the world must have once embraced what they now set on fire.” - Kurt Tucholsky.

"If you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” - Friedrich Nietzsche.

"Sapere aude." (Dare to be wise) - Horace.

"Summum ius summa inuria." (More law, less justice) - Cicero.

The Question
What is a life without meaning?
The Answer
Nothing but a dream.

"So far is it from being true that men are naturally equal, that no two people can be half an hour together, but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other." - Dr. Samuel Johnson, Life of Samuel Johnson.

"When people do not stop and think through certain issues, it does not matter whether those people are geniuses or morons, because the quality of the thinking that they would have done is a moot point." - Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics (4th ed.)

“I look up at the night sky, and I know that, yes, we are part of this Universe, we are in this Universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up—many people feel small, because they’re small and the Universe is big, but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars” - Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

“Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices, but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.” - Albert Einstein.

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The End, The Beatles.