A.J. Darkholme Quotes

It's amazing how just dressing differently can affect your influence; dress like a beggar and your assumed poverty gains you looks of contempt; dress in gold-lined robes and people are more willing to accommodate you; sport armour and you look strong, dutiful, and prepared.

Your life is not a countdown to your death, but a stepping stone for the lives that will live after you. Squander today, and you will find yourself useless tomorrow.

Sometimes to submit is to know you have a life worth living for a higher purpose, worth seeing through.

What's the use in prolonging life if you don't do anything with it?

It's not about being ready or feeling prepared all the time; sometimes you just have to do what you know you have to do. And when you do – you will always see that you're more ready and more prepared than you realize. Never doubt yourself or you may never do anything of significance.

Sometimes we exist long enough to lead the next generation; other times, only to plant a seed and let its resonations of our time here on Earth ripple into new waves.

Always think at least two steps ahead [in everything, with everyone].

The world is changeable, and its ability to change is so fragile that a single person can be responsible for it.

Just because someone is a keyholder, does not mean they will always help you unlock the door you want to go through – no matter how much you think you deserve to go through it. Sometimes you just have to reach out and take it.

Never judge a woman by her age.

The path of destiny is not always paved smooth with gold.

Some people experience a life-changing sensation that transforms how they see the world after a near-death experience, but the way I see it, we're all dying – nay, we're all dead – and it is up to us to be our own self-necromancers to find some form of life and spirit to reanimate the corpse of a life spent wanting.

If you choose to keep your true face secret, then the people who know you by one mask, must never meet those who know you by another.

If your heart, mind, and actions are selfish, they will ultimately divide you, others, or entire [establishments]. When motivation is pure and selfless, it will result in helping bring others together.

Our knees get dusty from time to time, but when they touch the ground, we must never allow the dust to convince us that our submission in that moment is the acceptance of our defeat for an entire lifetime.

We are united by something greater and more valuable than our beliefs alone: the freedom to have those beliefs, and believe what we want without persecution - we must protect that at all costs.

Sometimes it feels like you have nothing, or aren't going anywhere, but while you're waiting for fortune to deliver you, there is always something you can do to help yourself, or teach yourself to better your situation.

Let your fear drive you to evolve into greatness.

Your biggest dreams can become reality, not by brute-forcing the end-goal, but breaking it down into smaller, more manageable parts. If your goal takes years, breaking it down into months and days will let you improve your lot little bits at a time.

Anything you dream [can] be yours simply because you've focused on the steps you could take instead of the distance to get there.

Our destinations are Booleans – we reach them or we don't – but our journeys are spectrums, because there are so many paths we can take to our destination that make getting there that much better.

The questions we don't ask become the puzzles we don't solve.

Significant change requires significant sacrifice.

They say you can't change the past despite the fact it never stops changing you – but that doesn't mean we have to sit back and take it. It may change us, but we have ultimate control over how we let it.

People are more willing to change based on their perceived insecurities than by an attack on their beliefs.

When all is said and done, everyone should be able to look back on their life and know that they made it exactly as they wanted it to be.

Memories are meant to serve you, not enslave you.

Perspective alone can make an experience positive or negative, but regardless of which you let it become, it can only have as much power over your outlook on life as you give it.

A man shouldn't bite the hand that feeds him, even if another holds out a golden spoon to him as reward after his betrayal.

Emotional states change like the wind, and to indulge them only gives them more power over a person.

We live our days in the microscopic, but something within us calls us to dream in the cosmic – every one of us. And within us exists those two worlds: the world as it is and the world as we think it ought to be.

If you plan for failure, then you are expecting to fail. If you plan for success, you'll be successful. Once you start making a 'Plan B', you distract from 'Plan A', and the moment you start believing there are other options, you start settling for less.

Sometimes you just need to know when a fight is best saved for another day when the odds are more in your favour.

Greatness is not a gift that one can give to another, but rather is a thief's relic that we must take for ourselves.

The most fulfilling adventures happen when you start your journey without knowing where you're going, because only then are you free to experience the unexpected detours you're meant to take.

Sometimes you can grow more in a shorter amount of time with the right company than years of soul-searching alone, or by living the same patterns you've lived for your entire life.

[If you] give into your [emotional] illusions, and you will find yourself lost in a maze with no exits, nor entrances, but winding paths that lead you in circles so many times that you grow familiar and comfortable with the very place you shouldn't be in.

If something needs to be done, do it. If something needs to be said, say it.

The power of an idea is never to be underestimated. Many a thought has survived long after its host has ceased to be. It is the power of an idea that no shield can defend against, nor sword divide, nor poison infect. As such, we must aspire to create ideas, rather than preserve life. In a sense, this is how we achieve true immortality and live on past our time.

Words give inspiration, nothing more. You want redemption? The very thing you seek inspiration for? Fight for it like your life depended on it, because it always does.

Seek counsel; though we are all skilled and experienced in many ways, no one can experience all that life has to offer in the limited time we are given in this world.

All things are possible; if something seems like it's not, it's only because enough people aren't being deceived into the possibilities yet.

Presenting a humble façade gains trust; flattery appeals to ego; combine the two to gain an ego-based trust within someone, and you will find in your hands a judgement clouding tool second only to love.

Like waking up in our home one night to find ourselves in a blazing fire, we must be arsonists of emotion, forcing ourselves to grab only what is truly important to us before our life-rafters collapse in on us and we can no longer escape alive.

The more a mind thinks upon something, the deeper it will take root and affect all subsequent and related thought.

The older you get, the faster time passes in your mind, so use your time according to what is most important.

Some only follow the holy man while others only follow the warlord. But the truth is, both sides are within all of us, and if people could only see that, they wouldn't have to wear masks, or pretend to be holy like a holy man, or pretend that nothing can hurt them like a warlord. They could just be themselves, unjudged.

Sometimes it's best to trade an ideal for something more practical that you can guarantee.

Anything you don't want to deal with can always be written off as being "in the past" and ignored, but in doing so, you sweep it under a rug where it doesn't go away with time – it becomes time itself, and takes on the illusion of life as we think we know it.

We stay the same as we've always been, keeping to the path we've walked our whole lives. Paths that carry so much importance and perceived stability that we are utterly convinced it is the only one to walk – that anyone not walking it with us is being misled.

You believe stealing is wrong, but if your family was starving and could not afford bread, wouldn't you say it's okay to steal a loaf to feed them?

Awareness is not a prerequisite for change.

Never give up on the possibilities or accept what is when you can see it for what it could be.

People respond more to the authority of status, than the authority of truth.

Time doesn't always heal all wounds.

We must humble ourselves before [others] so we may learn from what others have lived. It is only when we have added their expertise to our own that we can truly excel towards our most ambitious goals and reach our fullest potential.

Sometimes the heart can hear what the ears do not.

Love is not a purpose, it's a paradox; it's not an end-goal, it's an auxiliary fuel source to help get there.

We are creatures of habit more than we are creatures of change.

Being a leader is not about finding ways to get others to serve you, but knowing how to serve your followers.

When you give meaning to even the most meaningless of things around you, you will always stand to be taught something new, have what you already know reinforced, or be reminded of what you've forgotten.

In times of war, skepticism can be just cause for execution.

Love is one of the most motivating and self-defining forces in our lives, whether we turn from it or allow ourselves to be drawn to it. If you allow romantic possibilities with others to consume all your time and energy, they will distract you from the things of interest that fill your life with passion and purpose.

Once you start settling, and letting others control your life, it can quickly become a habit, so it's best to avoid such things altogether.

Emperors are not made from cowards; they are made from those who take great risk where there stands to be even greater gain.

When you're looking for a needle in a haystack, don't afraid to burn the haystack to save yourself from spending half your life picking through strands of straw.

A good leader must have the wisdom to know when a pursuit is no longer worthy of being pursued - a time when the losses of the present must be accepted - and cut - to preserve the gains and providence of the future.

The only way we succeed as a group is not simply following directions, but in keeping each other accountable for our actions.

No matter what, don't live a life where you're too scared to die for what you believe in. Always go at it with everything you've got, even if it doesn't seem to be enough.

If someone was going to kill someone dear to you, and you could stop that person by killing them instead, would you kill them, knowing it was an effective way to save your loved one?

Every choice in life sets us on a different path and carries its own set of "what ifs" and consequences that we could worry about, but what's the use? Rather than plaguing our thoughts with the unknown, we should focus on and accept only what we do know – and all we know is the path we're currently on.

Always hear others out and remain open-minded; the day you think you know everything is the day you have the most yet to learn.

You don't have to keep living in a dystopia simply because you're strong and noble enough to accept it.

My happiness with the future and the present depends on my ability to let the past go and make peace with it.

We are not slaves of the past, nor servants of the present, but masters of the future.

Express [yourself] without worrying what everyone else will think. Those people are your limits. Ignore them.

Some people are born to hold keys, while others are born to use them.

No army is comprised of all the same kinds of units or types of troops. There is power in diversity. If you always see only one choice, or use only one option, you will surely lose more than you win.

Where there is desire, the means to fulfill it are endless.

Perhaps we don't progress, because there are so many views – so many paths to peace and happiness – that we get hung up on each path's differences. Trying to sort out right from wrong when the rights mean so much to us that we can't look at them objectively.

Mistake this day as being like any other, and your deaths will go as unmourned as the insects of the field.

Our emotions hold more power over us than blade or poison alike. To embrace freely the entire spectrum of our emotions is to allow a multitude of Trojan horses containing hidden emotional poisons to circumvent the walls of rationalization – walls we need to protect our trust, confidence, understanding, and self-control.

In the grand scheme of life, nobody grows old keeping their soul unblemished.

Our unity will always be a greater force with mixed ideals than if we demand that others change for us, to what we believe.

Without purpose and meaning in our lives, we banish ourselves to wander this plane of existence with self-destructive tendencies until the bell tolls and our breath capsizes in our lungs, snatching our chance to redeem ourselves forever.

Our lives consist of a series of internal battles, deep within us, where weapons don't exist and technology is unable to create devices that better the best of yesterday. Our knowledge is our only defense; caution, our only friend.

This day, you are free, because you have chosen to be free – and because of your choice, your days of insignificance are over.

If we are to be truly free, that freedom will come through cooperation and tolerance with one another.