By J. Zachary Pike
– Nove’s fourth principle of universal irony proved, by way of substitution, that planning increases the possibility of an unforeseen outcome. This was widely recognized well before Nove’s time; an old Tinderkin proverb said that every wedding held at least one disaster, and the best anyone could hope for was that it wasn’t the choice of spouse.
– The great philosopher-scientist demonstrated that planning builds expectations for things to go right, which proportionally increases the ironic potential for things that go wrong. Blocking off avenues for expected problems only creates the sort of ironic ripples in the fabric of reality that lead to truly spectacular misfortunes.
– Ignorance is a commodity. In any economy where knowledge has value, ignorance does as well…Governments rise and fall based on the careful cultivation and utilization of mass ignorance.
– “You have nothing to apologize for, my good man,” said Poldo brightly. “Let’s save blame for those that deserve it.”
– It was as perfect a moment as I’ve ever lived—where my purpose and everythin’ I wanted and what the world needed most all lined up.
– So I smoke, and I eat, and I try to do what I can to get those poor sods in the field some better treatment. It ain’t much, but it’s what I can do. The key is to get over it. Just go with the flow.
– Yeah, well revenge is a lot easier than justice.
– every day was a reminder that reality is always much messier than theory allows for.
– “When observed from a close perspective, how can destiny be distinguished from coincidence?…Up close, fate looks like tiny connections. Moments of serendipity. Tragic accidents. And yes, coincidences large and small,” Jynn continued, pacing back and forth in front of the students. “Yet theoretically, from a distance, one could see a continuous chain running through otherwise disparate events to a planned conclusion.”
– Then get it fixed or I’m going to have actions with someone.
– Yet he also knew that coincidence and destiny are much the same, in the way that raindrops and the ocean are the same; one might have been more vast and powerful and dangerous than the other, but they were made of identical components
– “Not just any rich folks,” said Heraldin. “Private equity. The Dark Money. It moves like a predator through the undercurrents of the market, and once it has a business in its tentacles, it slowly drains the very soul from it.”
– Pillage a town’s gold, and you’ll be rich for a day. Make a town systematically dependent on services that only you provide, and you’ll be rich for a lifetime.”
“Curiosity is not proof” said Mr. Flinn. “Questions are not evidence.” “Optimism is not a strategy,” countered Goldson.
– And, so, Nove’s first principle of universal irony is best observed by avoiding statements that set expectations for the universe to upset.
– It’s about odds, not certainty. There can be no irony in a certain universe. And our universe is most uncertain.
– Straightforward derivations of Nove’s second principle demonstrated that the desirability of an object decreases the likelihood that it was within a given radius of those desiring it.
– But it ain’t the odds, it’s the stakes.
– All the world’s evils are so much easier to spot in someone else…” “Well, all the world’s evils are only possible to fix in ourselves.”
– For those who fear to tread new paths, it would be. But for those with bold hearts, with the strength and courage to dance with the thunderstorm and carve new paths with the lightning…
– Ye were tryin’ to make the world right when the world’s doin’ everythin’ it can to stay wrong.
– All eyes were on the sprite. Unfortunately, according to Nove’s fifth principle of universal irony, that only served to further the delay the announcement. Anyone who has had a birthday party, opened holiday presents, or watched a clock for the end of a particularly painful class knows that time seems to pass more slowly while waiting for a desirable event….attention and anticipation delay events and distort time.
– It means letting go of the anger, of the hurt. You still know you felt it, and you still remember it, but you won’t let it control you. Because hanging on to the pain keeps hurting you. It holds you back. Releasing it sets you free, and freedom is power.
– Forgiveness is an act of iron will, and it takes a strength of mind and heart
– “And you aren’t born with it (destiny)…Destinies are places where the weave twists, like them whirlpools in the river. They show up at certain times or under particular circumstances, and if the right sort of person gets caught in their pull, they’ll be drawn toward the middle. Past a certain point, there’s no escaping it. But before then, people can pull themselves out.”
– History’s full of people who might’ve saved the world if they hadn’t decided to take over the family business or see how things worked out with a lover.
– Pathalan, like many members of the clergy, had a strong faith that the gods were responsible for much of the past, and an even more emphatic belief that they almost never had anything to do with the present.
– “Then a real hero of legend might arise,” Brouse said. “That seems like a good thing,” said Alithana. “The world needs more heroes these days.” “Nah, the world needs more caring people willing to do hard work fo the common good.” Brouse grabbed his pack and grimaced up at Niln’s face. “But bein’ nice and sacrificing for others don’t get you in the Agekeeper’s scrolls. To be a legend? To have some big, reality-warping destiny, a hero needs somethin’ really horrible to stand against. You don’t get that sort of hero without a darkness that might destroy all of Arth.”
– A part of Kaithe knew these tricks, these clever little ruses she set up to absolve herself and place the guilt for her transgressions firmly with circumstance.
– People don’t want to be ethical. They want to believe they’re ethical, and there’s a lot of skeletons in the gap between those two.
– Proof is no better than a lie if people don’t want to believe it.
– a clever idiom can walk through many gates where facts and rational arguments will be detained, questioned, and hung in the morning.
– there was little good in letting fear bind her
– Or, put another way, a person cannot avoid saying things that might be ironic, because it’s actually more ironic when an unexpected statement of behavior leads to unexpected consequences.
– “I…uh…well, death is a part of life—the last bit, aha, and…I…well, it’s good to not make it more than it is…” Ignatius found it difficult to explain himself to the small child because, like so many people called out by children, his rationale was stupid. Much fo what passes for wisdom are actually attempts to paper over faults and weaknesses with pithy slogans.
– “You came back for me…why?” “Because he couldn’t live in a world without you,” said Heraldin softly. “I think…I think he knew that some treasures you cannot keep, no matter how much you wish it was different. But they are still worth everything. And he gave everything for you.”
– Pathalan found religion much more palatable when it was stripped of all the belief and obedience, and all that remained was unquestioned authority, free meals, and a complete lack of accountability. The life of a clergy member was a comfortable one, provided you set aside the gods.
– He pushed the grief down beneath the surface; not to smother it, but to plant the seed that would bear the fruits of justice.
– “The world must change, but you cannot separate what it will be from how it will be made…For the way of the Wall and finances is brutal and unjust and merciless, but Mankind was all of those things before the first coin was minted, and it will be so after the Wall and its banks crumble to ruins.”
– Borne on a languid tide of music and light, the stones slowly began to rise.
– “I prefer the term tactical repositioning…Postponing my victory in light of ongoing circumstances…You got a lot of euphemisms for the coward’s path.” “A little fear can be healthy, and excessive courage is a liability.”
– Flinn tried to argue as he was lifted, but his mouth was covered by the massive hero’s grip. his arms were pinned to his sides, and his legs kicked uselessly at the air around him. His muffled protests died away when he was level with the Ogre’s face. There was a finality in the Ogre’s tiny, angry eyes. “Justice…Brunt style!” growled Brunt, and squeezed. A damp crunch filled the air… Just how good the end of chapters and the first line of the next chapter play off each other. Were all the books like that?
– “Of course it’s true!” snapped Johan. “It will be true because we say it’s true! Truth is what everybody knows, what everybody wants to know! They want their king to be good, to fight for them, to be on their side! They want to be certain of who the forces of darkness are, and they want to now they’re kept at bay! They want their heroes to triumph! The hero always triumphs!”
– Yet when Grom visited temples, they didn’t talk about the Felfather as a being so much a concept. The name Mannon was synonymous with Evil; encountering him in a dungeon was like having Hospitality over the dinner or meeting Travel on the street.
– “Evil? What a silly, outmoded term. I am self-interested, and self-interest is practically a virtue. It inspires people, drives them, to moral labor, and powers the thriving economy that builds all of our wondrous things! Why, imagine what life would be life if every person stopped eating, stopped bathing, stopped caring for themselves in general.”
– “You can get good competition along any line you divide people by—open conflict too, if you’re lucky—and the more obvious a line the better.”
– If the old berserker had a destiny, if there was some grand purpose in his life, it needed to show up soon. Niln had told him the scriptures would show him the signs, and signs couldn’t get much clearer than this. But his old friend had also said that he’d know what to do when the time came, and here at the intersection of now and never, Gorm couldn’t father what to do.
– “It’s easy to spot your parents flaws. It’s much harder to avoid inheriting them,” said Jynn…
– At high enough population destiny, concepts such as “possibility” or “probability” break down. One-in-a-million chances become near certainties, and even more outlandish odds become the norm.
– For Nove, hope wasn’t a wish. It was a mathematical fact. You have to consider the best possible scenario.
– Fulgen – the god of light in dark places
– His foul breath was wasted. Destiny flows like a river, running across the rough and uneven horizons of possibility. Its flows join and split as they make their way through time, but when probability and prophecy channel enough fates together, it becomes as unstoppable as a flash flood tumbling through a canyon.
– Poldo took a deep breath. The topic was predictable as gravity; in corporate physics, every action has an equal and opposite effort to avoid consequences.
– Fulgen taught that every soul held the capacity for works of evil and destruction, but also the seeds of beauty and creation. Anyone’s path to lasting glory led them to stand against the vile within and work to foster good throughout.