R.F. Kuang Quotes

I have met spirits unable to find their bodies again," said Jiang. He looked very old then. "I have
met men who are only halfway to the spirit realm, caught between our world and the next. What does
that mean? It means don't. Fuck. Around." He tapped her forehead with each word. "If you don't want
that brilliant little mind of yours to shatter, you'll do as I say.

I don't love you. And I can kill anything.

When Jiang had taught her to access the Pantheon, he had only ever taught her to kneel before the deities.
But the Cike pulled them down with them back into the world of mortals, and when they did, they were destructive and chaotic and terrible. When the shamans of the Cike prayed, they were not requesting that the gods do things for them so much as they were begging the gods to act *through* them

Great danger is always associated with great power. The difference between the great and the mediocre is that the great are willing to take the risk.

If nothing lasted and the world did not exist, all that meant was that reality was not fixed. The illusion she lived in was fluid and mutable, and could be easily altered by someone willing to rewrite the script of reality.

This was not a world of men. It was a world of gods, a time of great powers. It was the era of divinity walking in man, of wind and water and fire. And in warfare, she who held the power asymmetry was the inevitable victor.

If there was one thing Rin had learned about her country's history, it was that the only permanent thing about the Nikara Empire was war.

People will seek to use you or destroy you. If you want to live, you must pick a side. So do not shirk from war, child. Do not flinch from suffering. When you hear screaming, run toward it.

If they couldn't capture the Autumn Palace, at least they had a good chance of blowing it up.

His hand went into the skimmer's hull, an inch from her head. She didn't flinch. She turned her head slowly, trying to pretend her heart wasn't slamming against her chest.
'You missed,' she said calmly.
Nehza pulled his hand away from the hull. Blood trickled down his knuckles from four crimson fots.
She should have been afraid, but when she searched his face, she couldn't find a shred of anger. Just fear.
She had no respect for fear.
'I don't want to hurt you,' he said.
'Of, trust me.' Her lip curled. 'You couldn't.

Supernatural is a word for anything that doesn't fit your present understanding of the world.

If there is a divine creator, some ultimate moral authority, then why do bad things happen to good people? And why would this deity create people at all, since people are such imperfect beings?

A rational explanation eluded her.
Because the answer could not be rational. It was not founded in military strategy. It was not because of a shortage of food rations, or because of the risk of insurgency or backlash. It was, simply, what happened when one race decided the other was insignificant.

But how does the existence or nonexistence of the gods affect me? Why does it matter how the universe came to be?"
"Because you're part of it. Because you exist. And unless you want to only ever be a tiny modicum of existence that doesn't understand its relation to the grander web of things, you will explore.

And you think you're on the brink of madness, you think that this moment is going to be when you finally snap, but it's not.
"How do you know that?"
"Because it gets easier every time. Eventually you learn to exist on the precipice of insanity.

We're not here to be sophisticated. We're here to fuck people up.

She had bribed a teacher. She had stolen opium. She had burned herself, lied to her foster parents, abandoned her responsibilities at the store, and broken a marriage deal.
And she was going to Sinegard.

But eventually, you'll have to ask yourself precisely what you're fighting for. And you'll have to find a reason to live past vengeance.

I want an end to the Federation.
'How do you intend to achieve that?'
She glowered at the god. The Phoenix was playing with her, forcing her to spell out her demand. Forcing her to specify exactly what abomination she wanted to commit.

The anger was a shield. The anger helped her to keep from remembering what she'd done. Because as long as she was angry, then it was okay - she'd acted within reason. She was afraid that if she stopped being angry, she might crack apart.

Our world is a dream of the gods. Maybe they have other dreams. But all we have is this story unfolding, and in the script of this world, nothing's going to bring Altan back to life.

Children ceased to be children when you put a sword in their hands. When you taught them to fight a war, then you armed them and put them on the front lines, they were not children anymore. They were soldiers.

If you're focused only on your enemy's weapon, you'll always be on the defensive. Look past the weapon to your target. Focus on what you want to kill.

I have tamed a land created to wither humans away until they are polished bone. Do not think to defy me.