Quotes From Troy

How is it that normal people become heroes? What defines a legend? Sometimes it is just a man, woman or child trapped in extraordinary circumstance, and acting according to his or her own beliefs.

I liked Gemmell's retellings of old legends because they make the heroes human. People who are no different from any other, who just happen to be trapped in rather strange circumstances. The hero, in these cases, do not have farts that smell of roses nor do flowers bloom where they walk.

Sometimes, it is the ordinary that inspire legends.

"Love is a mystery. We embrace it where we can. Mostly we do not choose whom we love. It just happens. A voice speaks to us, in ways the ear cannot hear. We recognize a beauty that the eye does not see. We experience a change in our hearts that no voice can describe. There is no evil in love, Kalliope" 


"'You said storytellers fashion truth from lies? How can that be?' she asked him. 
"'A question I have long pondered,' He pointed at Bias. 'I once told a tale about a winged demon who attacked the Penelope. I said that Bias, the greatest spear thrower in the world, hurled a javelin so powerfully that it tore through the demon's wings and saved the ship from destruction. Bias was so taken with the story that he practised and practised with the javelin, and finally won a great prize at a King's Games. You see? He had become the greatest, because I lied about it. And therefore it was no longer a lie.'
"'I understand,' said Piria. 'And how can the truth be made into a lie?'
"'Ah, lass, that is something none of us can avoid.' Bending down, he scooped up the small clay plate...
"' My point is that truth is a mass of complexities, made up of many parts. What is truth to you?... Truth or lies? Both? It depends upon perception, understanding, belief. So, to return to your original question, it is not hard to make the truth a lie. We do it all the time, and mostly we don't even know it.'"

"She looked up at him. 'Are you in love with me?'...
"He looked into her eyes, and she felt the power of his grey gaze. 'My feelings are my own,' he said at last. 'All I know is that you are sailing for Troy to be with someone you love. If you will allow me I will see you safely there.' 
"'I could never love a man in the way that he would desire. You understand that?' 
"'Have I asked you to love me?' he countered.
"'No.'
"'Then the problem does not arise.'"

"'There is a darkness in you. In all of us, probably. Beasts we keep chained. Orginary men have to keep the chains strong, for if we let the beast loose then society will turn upon us with a fiery vengeance. Kings though... well, who is there to turn upon them? So the chains are made of straw. It is the curse of kings, Helikaon, that they can become monsters.' He sighed. 'And they invariably do.'" 

There is a reason I read fiction. Because often stories describe abstract ideas better that the writings of scholars.

And I Quote, On Anger

Again taken from the same book, White Night, by Jim Butcher.

"'Anger is just anger. It isn't good. It isn't bad. It just is. What you do with it is what matters. It's like anything else. You can use it to build or to destroy. You just have to make the choice.'

"'Constructive anger,' (she) said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"'Also known as passion,' (he) said quietly. 'Passion has overthrown tyrants, and freed prisoners and slaves. Passion has brought justice where there was savagery. Passion has created freedom where there was nothing but fear. Passion has helped souls rise from the ashes of their horrible lives and build something better, stronger, more beautiful.'

"'In point of fact," (he) said quietly. "that kind of thing really doesn't get done without passion. Anger is one of the things that can help build it - IF it's controlled."

"'If you really believed that," (she) said, 'you'd not be having any anger-control issues.'

"'Because I'm perfect?' (he) asked her, and snorted. 'A lot of men go a lifetime without ever figuring out how to control anger. I've been doing it longer than some, but I don't kid myself that I'm a saint.' I shruggged. 'A lot of things I see make me angry. It's one of the reasons I decided to spend my life doing something about it.'

"'Because you're so noble,' she purred, which dripped even more sacarsm...

"'Because I'd rather use that anger to smash the things that hurt people than let it use me,' (he) said. 'Talk at my subconscious all you want. But I'd be careful about trying to feed my inner Hulk, if I were you. You might end up making me that much better a person, once I beat it down. Who knows, you might make me into a saint. Or as close to one as I could get, anyway.'"

And I Quote... On Pain

Taken from White Night, by Jim Butcher

"What we hadn't known about, back then, was pain.

"Sure, we'd faced some things as children that a lot of kids, don't.... We still hadn't learned, though, that growing up is all about getting hurt. And then getting over it. You hurt. You recover. You move on. Odds are pretty good you're just going to get hurt again. But each time, you learn something.

"Each time, you come of it a little stronger, and at some point you realize that there are more flavours of pain than coffee. There's the little empty pain of leaving something behind - graduating, taking the next step forward, walking out of something familiar, and safe into the unknown.

"There's the big, whirling pain of life upending all your plans and expectations. There's the sharp little pains of failure, and the more obscure aches of successes that didn't give you what you thought they would. There are the vicious, stabbing pains of hopes being torn up. The sweet little pains of finding others, giving them your love, and taking joy in their life as they grow and learn. There's the steady pain of empathy that you shrug off so you can stand beside a wounded friend and help them bear their burdens.

"And if you're very, very lucky, there are a very few blazing hot little pains you feel when you realize that you are standing in a moment of utter perfection, an instant of triumph, or happiness, or mirth which at the same time cannot possibly last - and yet will remain with you for life.

"Everyone is down on pain, because they forget something important about it: Pain is for the living. Only the dead don't feel it.

"Pain is part of life. Sometimes it's a big part, and sometimes it isn't, but either way, it's part of the big puzzle, the deep music, the great game. Pain does two things:

It teaches you, tells you that you're alive. The it passes away, and leaves you changed.

"It leaves you wiser, sometimes. Sometimes it leaves you stronger. Either way, pain leaves its mark, and everything important that will ever happen to you in life is going to involve it in one degree or another."

The 4 Kinds of People

From a book by Timothy Zahn,

There are 4 types of people in the world.

He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not.
He is a fool. Shun him

He who knows not, and knows that he knows not.
He is simple. Teach him.

He who knows, and knows not that he knows.
He is asleep. Wake him.

He who knows, and knows that he knows.
He is wise. Follow him.

So which are you?