And then something happened. It was a fragment of time, a breath of time. It was like being in a car in pouring rain and driving under an overpass, and for just that second there is a profound, powerful sense of reprieve – the utter silence of non-rain.
“Tau?” he said, in bemusement. “But…” “But what? But I’m too kind to tell the truth? But I’m too gentle to lay it out in public? But I’m too soft to do this to you?”
The Divine Principality offers you progress, but imperial futures are only ever stolen presents. I offer you more. I offer you actualization.
“Tell him none of this is his fault. It was already burning. He’s just the first spark of the fire. Tell him he knows everything he needs to know and feels everything he needs to feel. And when the day comes and those two pull together, he will be an unstoppable force for good.”
“Just... isn’t giving up allowed sometimes? Isn’t it okay to say, ‘This really hurts, so I’m going to stop trying’?” “It sets a dangerous precedent.” “For avoiding pain?” “For avoiding life.”
So she was always in the middle of at least one book and felt safe only if she had several more on standby.
You look around. Who is here at the top of the Empire State Building? “Motherfuckin’ I’m here!”
“When they bury me, you make sure they call me Attar Rose.”
Emotionally stunted, refuses to deal with grief, won’t say the name of the person most important to them, betrayed by their situationship, captain of a ship that was meant to be a promise, a promise that may never be fulfilled.
“I cannot make speeches, Emma... If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am. You hear nothing but truth from me. I have blamed you, and lectured you, and you have borne it as no other woman in England would have borne it.”
I wonder if there’s a single place in the whole world that’s never had a story. I bet not. I just about guarantee you there’s no place like that in America. Every little square of it, every place you stomp your foot, that’s where something happened.
JUICE: for just two players to recover nine footballs is real crazy. so at the moment, if they just get these balls in the first place, i’d rate it at like a 7. you should calibrate your excitement to 7 out of 10 TEN: I’ll put it at 4 because I don’t trust your judgment. JUICE: i’ll take a 4
“You know what happened the last time I sat down and I had a big meal with my friends and family? We went outside and we killed a star.”
NINE: You know what, fuck you. JUICE: oh shit TEN: Oh shit! NINE: I’m sorry. JUICE: nah buddy that ruled i was wondering if you could even get mad JUICE: i'm sorry, clowning is how i express affection
“This is the kitchen of a Thinker,” she decided, and promised herself that she'd never bother with cooking, either.
Gig isn't trying to trick you! He isn't influencing you with guile, charm, or logic. He is just warm.
Has she survived unchanged? There’s something different about Li Aixue, if you look at her out of the corner of your eye. She’s too sharp, too bright, too… is she humming? Is she ringing? Like a chime?
“When you’re doing something like this, the odds are irrelevant. You don’t need to know the odds. You need to know how to do the thing you’re trying to do. And then you need to do it. What comes next isn’t something you have control over.”
If you’re looking pretty and your hair’s all shiny, and there’s a glint in your eye, and you say sorry like you mean it, and then kiss me on the mouth and let your hand kind of slip under my shirt so it’s on my back, well, I’d sure forgive and forget.
You probably think Aled Last and I are going to fall in love or something. Since he is a boy and I am a girl. I just wanted to say – we don’t. That’s all.
“I’ve heard people call Tau naïve; even other Princes. But I have never, ever known anyone to influence Tau’s judgment of character. That’s what makes Tau so strong. They always get to the truth of you, whether you like it or not.”
He smiled. Of course. It was that exquisite sensation – the blending in, the folding-out – that’s exactly how her voice had felt to him. Actually, the Turquoise Rain had been familiar the moment he felt it, and now he knew why. It was just like the touch of Madeleine’s hand.