The Jacka Quotes

My magic senses danger by seeing the futures in which I'm hurt. As I see the futures in which I'm injured or killed, I change decisions that lead to them. But it's painful. To avoid a future in which I die, I have to experience it. I've learned to shield myself from the psychic shock of those visions, taking only a hazy glance, enough to know hot to avoid that future and no more. ~ Benedict Jacka

If there's one thing all diviners share, it's curiosity. We really can't help it; it's just part of who we are. If you dug out a tunnel somewhere in the wilderness a thousand miles from anywhere and hung a sign on it saying, 'Warning, this leads to the Temple of Horrendous Doom. Do not enter, ever. No, not even then', you'd get back from lunch to find a diviner already inside and two more about to go in.

Come to think about it, that might explain why there are so few of us. ~ Benedict Jacka

Different moves make different sounds - the steady tread of someone walking, the scrape of shifting feet, the patter of someone in a hurry - and with practice you can learn to filter them, picking out the ones that don't fit in. It's nothing to do with magic, just simple awareness, a primal skill that anyone can learn but which most people in the modern age have forgotten. But anyone who lives as a predator or a prey learns it fast. ~ Benedict Jacka

I'll use my divination and look into the future. Hey, you know what, I'm seeing the future right now. If I stand here and wait, then in three minutes a train's going to come. And after that, another train's going to come. Here, I'll let you guess what's going to happen afterwards. I'll give you a hint - there's a train. ~ Benedict Jacka

I remember reading a book where some pretentious writer claimed there's no moment of enlightenment more terrible than when you realise your parents are simple human beings. ~ Benedict Jacka