Janet Morris Quotes

You must become like yourself.

As Seth's apprentice, I've learned wisdom of which you've never dreamed.

I'm just a weapon of the god.

To take care of the world seemed, finally, a privilege rather than a burden. The Riddler had led them to life's greatest victory. They had found a home.

Valor was in Nikodemos, unquestionable, and commitment like trees to stand or night to fall.

For the gift of life, the only true thanks was in living fully, and facing death with honor.

Now the Fates are here on the beach, three shadows blacker than black, walking through the dunes and looking for their own. Just shadows, lamb-white hands beneath black robes spun of tears, glide among the celebrants on this night wherein the spirits of Thebes have found a home, if serendipitously.

Deception is a tactic: use it. Do whatever it takes to win.

Grab reality by the balls and squeeze.

For Tempus ... was a dozen storm gods' avatar; no army he sanctified could know defeat; no war he fought could not be won. Combat was life to him; he fought like the gods themselves ...

For me, myth is the 'common' language of us all.

One man, one horse, one holocaust on demand.

It is upon each soul to recognize its limit.

I must decide if you deserve to die.

Bandara was not an easy place to return to: it could hide from the common worlds whose periphery it inhabited. But Bandara never had, in all its years, completely disappeared.

There are stranger things here than Thebans know about ...

When the balance is restored, people get hurt.

Such hubris could only come from a man's mouth.

Nothing he knew of, enunciated life like death.

So well do I love you, I go to my god singing your praises. When I meet my father, I will tell him I fought beside you.

I am always yours to call, wherever the sea can reach.

To the death with honor, shoulder to shoulder, and no one gets closer to a Stepson than his partner.

Only from chaos does order come. The angry Fates bring death where they will, when war is king, says Enlil, storm god of the armies, and the tip of his crown rends the clouds above their heads. "Wheresoever I rule, death comes shambling after. So it has always been, is, and will be."

Why is it we are always the targets of the angry Fates? Twice as many men of ours met harm as did theirs, since we've come here.

Men may not believe you, my son. But you must always say the truth, when the truth holds no danger for you or your loved ones.

I'm going to kill that god of yours, next. Then we'll see what you can do, and what you can't.

Wisdom, Niko thought as he leaned his cheek against his long-handled rake, cannot be had without price. And that price is blood. The sound of it in your veins. The pound of it in your head. The volume of it in a human body; the sickness when you've spilled it.

Gods colliding, ethos and mythos trying to combine. The Sacred Band caught up in a whirlwind not of any god's devising: he and Niko had wanted to save twenty-three pairs of fated Theban fighters. Now everything feels fated and fighting oversweeps its boundaries of time and place and plane.

The two stallions, the silver and the black, represent the equine god (whomsoever horses pray to) in this ritual so ancient that no one knows what god to thank.

And what do the Theban hoplites see in this extended rending of the sky, this white-bright glory of Enlil's lightning? The future, but not theirs: paired cavalry fighters; formed ranks of armored death; grim men on their tall horses with lightning limning weapons tailored to the task; men spoiling for a fight if the gods allowed - the Sacred Band of Stepsons, out from shadows and the dark.

I see ranks ready for battle, stretching out. Five, six horses across, ranks in formation. Endlessly.

The city guardsmen were like the keres, doom-bringers of merciless vengeance.

The Fates are here because of supernal anger, celestial imbalance, and arrogance of men and gods that must be curbed.

Niko and his women will be the death of all the Stepsons yet.

Nature has a surer plan than mortals can devise.

All gods are tricksters, and war gods worst of any.

Reasons never matter, once Death comes cold and bold and takes the living by the hand. You count up your dead, every one..

Nothing walks the earth more savage than a mare enraged.

Life to you, Riddler, and everlasting glory.

And personally, I've lost my thirst for vengeance.

Look to the souls of Your own soldiers, God, who labor in Thine awful cause.

Makes you wonder if the gods are always right.

Revenge is fruitless.

Niko knew death like a sister - she was his true partner in the phenomenal world.

What we hold sacred is honor, justice, and glory. You need not swear allegiance to our storm god, to serve with us. Fighters are among us from many lands, with many gods and many beliefs. Believe as you will. What is between a man and his god is theirs alone to say.

Tempus wanders eternally, bringing death to whomever loves him and being spurned by whomsoever he shall love.

What doesn't bend must break, when dooms are apportioned and destiny takes the lead. As it will now, and as it must, until this struggle ends.

Men make their own fates - it's personal, not a matter for debate.

If, as Niko asks, you show them mercy, then the gods will be well pleased.

Wanting neither too much to live, nor too much to die.

I survive. I survived it all then and I'll survive the rest of it. Without your help.

Live to fight on other days.

When I write what publishers call 'fantasy' I am writing in what I think is the most important tradition of fiction: starting with Homer and up through Shakespeare and Milton, the most important themes to tackle are those of the mythopoeic domain, tales of the body and mind seen through a temperament and a cosmos divorced from current reality so what is said can be more clear.

You three have done quite enough today: all of you and your feckless, treacherous god.

Wars don't bring lasting peace, only lasting death.

Shed your mortal skin and let me take you beneath the waves.

I thought we'd die there, quarrels in our backs, you for what you did and me for bearing witness.

I won't go back and live in the sea again.

It's all right. Things as they once were will never be again, but it's all right.

Your stuff does not own the home; either control your belongings, or they will control you.

I can start the rain. Bring thunder. Bring lightning. Want to see?

Time to unite the Sacred Bands, Thebans and his people: one unit, one heart, one swing through life.

War is all and king of all

Vengeance is disappointing, always.

We know. We've seen it all before.

No ethos, pursued without thought or mercy, is ethical.

If the gods sent you to fight here, then the gods are fools.

Her idea of who's worth what ain't mine.

Use him wisely. Few have been given such a weapon by the gods or Fates before.

Tempus never left a problem for another to solve. Tempus never let the pain or difficulty of an undertaking persuade him not to pursue a resolution his heart thought was right. Tempus never gave up.

Sanctuary is for lovers, not fighters, this season.

Everyone prepares for battle in his own way.

Humans create their futures every day of every year; only you can alter your worlds.

"Learn what can, and cannot, be asked from destiny."

Life was never simple, happiness never where you thought you'd left it, and right and wrong no more fixed than clouds in the sky.

It was his soul's freedom that was in question. And that question was whether freedom was worth the price when it meant shirking the responsibilities of honor.

Something awful is always going to happen, Arton. It's Sanctuary. You're a Stepson. Awful is a big part of your job.

I think we're all in Cime's army now. But never mind, the Storm God hasn't forgotten us. Heaven is no farther away than it ever was.

A wise one determines his own fate.

If it was true today, it might be untrue tomorrow.

The meaning of life, Nikodemos, is to live life with meaning. The purpose of life is merely to live it, perhaps to give it.

Survival has its own etiquette.

You get what you expect. Expect to heal. Expect victory.

Keep your enemies at a distance, your partners close at hand.

Stop grieving. Start giving thanks to me. You live to fight on other days.

Time is so ... fluid where I live

If, as you teach, the universe has no beginning and no end, why should we?

Men are fools who forget what really matters while time goes by.

Death is a doorway, Niko, that leads to an adventure greater than any you have ever known.

Order is its own reward.

So some will be left who remember.

"Mercy is not in favor in my heavens today," says Vashanka, unforgiving and combative, folding vast arms and spearing Harmony with lightning that crackles from his gaze.

Death's easy to find. If She wants you, you'll meet Her here as well as anywhere.

This is for you. A mage named Randal told me to give it to the Band if you ever came back. 'It surmounts evil,' he told me, 'keeps doom at bay.'

Listen close and you can hear, Please, bless us and forgive us, and make us good here and strong here. Let us get along here. Let those we love and left behind be blessed. Let us find the proper path and keep to it. Help us act harmoniously, and find work pleasing in the sight of god and man.

Don't forget, Riddler, how I love thee. Or all we shared together. Or that this sea and all other seas can lead you back to me.

Choose life over death, Niko, when a choice can be made that puts no soul in jeopardy.

The gods want to bring a better day, and you are their messengers. Trust not in all you see. Trust only in your hearts. And in us, who love you both.

Some nights, valor and cold purpose aren't enough.

Gods and men honor those who have fought in battle.