Quotes from Jack Campbell

I am bound to you by love, the most magical spell of all, which instead of quickly fading can grow more powerful over time." She couldn't help smiling at him. "You're trying to distract me, aren't you?" Alain nodded. "Unsuccessfully, it appears.

Excuse me," Kira said. "I am perfectly capable of getting myself into a mess. Isn't that what the Senior Mechanics tried to say about my mother? That someone else was leading her astray? I'm in this mess because of my decisions.

Get the blazes out of here before I have an attack of common sense.

Wisdom does not lie in accepting what the illusion shows us. It lies in trying to change the illusion in favor of what is real. You have already cast your shadow wide and done what many said could not be.

All I ever wanted to be was a Mechanic," Mari said. Camber nodded, stepping back. "Yet you were willing to be the daughter when called upon. The world suffers from those whose ambition drives them to be more and more. But it needs those willing to be more than they wish when they are needed.

Are you all right?" Kira asked. "You throw me off a train again, and then ask if I'm all right," Jason said, his voice flat. "Why do I doubt your sincerity?

I'm sorry," Kira said. "Are you? You're pretty good at shoving people off of moving trains." "Jason, before I met you I had never shoved anyone off of a train." "I guess that makes me special

There's always a choice," she said, opening her eyes again and meeting Flyn's with a somber gaze of her own. "You have to be willing to make it.

You've received a battlefield promotion to captain." "What? When?" "Just now. For heroism and inspiring leadership and a keen grasp of the responsibilities of command and so on and so forth.

What do you think is the most important thing you learned in the last couple of years?" "That no one can ever win an argument with the woman they love

I learned how big a difference one person can make, both in the lives of those closest to them, and to many others.

Thank you." "For?" "You never gave up. Not on me, and not on the world. The day we met I told you that happiness was an illusion, as I had been taught by the Mage Guild elders. You have shown me that happiness does exist.

You're welcome. I still think I got the better end of the deal. Thank you for not giving up, even when our chances of reaching this day seemed like an illusion, even when it seemed there was no hope left. It looks like we have some more challenges to face someday, but I won't mind dealing with them as long as you're beside me.

Alain looked ahead, where the road ran onward to where it would reach the city of Altis, and along many paths through the city and to the port, where ships would continue the road across the water to countless other roads. Sometimes you could see where the road was going, but other times you could only guess. Like life, the road took on different aspects, and might wander down strange and unexpected ways. But it never really ended.

The Mage watched her intently. "Perhaps your value is greater than you know, greater than any treasure spent in pursuit of you." The sort of statement any girl wanted to hear from a guy, and she had to hear it from a Mage

This weapon I am giving you is a tool, an emergency tool. It is not to be depended upon as a first resort, or a second, or even a third. Your greatest assets will always be your mind and your ability to act on wise decisions. Fail to make proper use of those assets, and the weapon cannot save you. Remember that, Mari.

Change," Jason said. "It hurts, but it has to be, and it gives us new things." Kira turned her smile on him. "Why do you say you're not smart? Jason, you have great ideas.

If the people we think we see are but shadows of the world illusion, what matter what we tell them? It becomes not a matter of truth and lies, but a question of whether either matters. The choice of what to do is mine.

Truth matters to me. So does being willing to stick your neck out for someone else, and you've certainly done that for me. But if you're going to be my friend you'll have to make sure you don't tell me any lies. We have to be honest with each other." Alain frowned very slightly. "I do not know how to do that. I can only be what I am.

Because I'm not doing it so people will think I'm great. It needs to be done, I can do it, so I do, and I don't want people making a big deal out of it." Kira realized that her mouth was hanging open and closed it. "You sound like my mother. And my father. Which I never expected to say to you.

Your plan appears to be sound, as well as potentially very destructive. I see that it is a mistake to offend you." "Yes, yes, it is," Mari agreed, a smile flickering briefly to life. "Stay on my good side and you won't have to worry about it.

Don't let people suffer! Don't let anyone be hurt! If you can help, then help! What about that is complicated?" Mari demanded. Alain thought about her words. "It is not complicated, but doing it might be…" What was the right word? "Difficult." "Yeah, well, that's me in a nutshell, isn't it?

The answer? There is no answer. Only choices which can have many outcomes, some expected, and some unforeseen. Perhaps that is the only wisdom there really is, young Mage: that our choices matter. As your choices matter, perhaps more than those of anyone else at this time.

Jason spoke in a rough voice. "Hating you, hating anybody else, wouldn't make my life any better. My parents think tearing other people down, tearing me down, makes them bigger. But I know it doesn't. It makes them smaller. And I am not going to be like them.