Quotes from Stephen R. Donaldson

When the emergency brappers went of they did what any dedicated, well-trained and quick-minded Service personnel would do; they paniced. From the short story What Makes Us Human.

As long as you have some idea of what's happening to you, 'real' or 'unreal' doesn't matter. You have to stand up for what you care about; if you don't, you lose control of who you are.

We are mortal, and the visage of failure is heinous to us. But we are not required to succeed. It is required of us only that we hold fast in every gale and let come what may.

In other words, hope comes from the power of what you serve, not from yourself.

All that Desecration—ravage and rapine—for a false hope.

Joy is in the ears that hear, not in the mouth that speaks. The world has few stories glad in themselves, and we must have gay ears to defy Despite.

There's only one way to hurt a man who's lost everything. Give him back something broken.

Courage is for the lean. I am wiser.

Ah, Creator! Timelord and Landsire! Did You intend that beauty and truth should pass utterly from the Earth?

So ignorance increases ignorance, and knowledge

But he was dreaming. The way to endure a dream was to flow with it until it ended.

I was as lost as she - and far less significant. I had gleaned all that my gifts offered, and had now no occupation other than to nurture my dismay.

If he tormented himself with unattainable desires, he would cripple his grasp on the law which enabled him to survive. His imagination could kill him, lead or seduce or trick him into suicide: seeing all the things he could not have would make him despair.

You fear both strength and weakness, both power and lack of power.

You fear to be in need—and to have your need answered. As do I.

True, the work of our lifetime has been to comprehend and consolidate the gains of our forebears. But our labor will open the doors of the future. Our children and their children will gain because we have not lost heart, for faith and courage are the greatest gift that we can give to our descendants

Take heart. Despair and bitterness are not the only songs in the world.

Even prophets and madmen require sustenance.

Unearned knowledge is perilous. Only by the seeking and gaining of it may its uses be understood, its true worth measured.

Unearned knowledge rules its wielder, to the cost of both.

Abruptly Loerya joined the probing. "And if there is no Creator? Or if the creation is untended?" "Then who is there to reproach us? We provide the meaning of our own lives. If we serve the Land purely to the furthest limit of our abilities, what more can we ask of ourselves?

So now you think the augury was misinterpreted. It said you had to go get someone. It didn't say who that someone was.

Sometimes ignorance is the only kind of bravery or at least willingness that does any good.

Go forward, he said to himself. Don't think about it. Survive.