Mirrored Heavens

Love is not a prize to be won or a sign of one’s merit. It is a gift freely given.

Love? No," she declared. "Love is never a weakness." "People say--" "People misunderstand. Love is the most powerful force in the world. It can change minds, change hearts, reshape the heavens and the earth. That is why people condemn it, say a woman is stronger without it, but that's their own fear talking. If you are lucky enough to find love, Xiala, you hold on to it with all you have. It is a rare thing.

Power is impossible to untangle from our own desires.

Power is never willingly conceded; it must always be taken.

The best way to win the war is to win the peace.

I am just an old man who wasted his life in bitterness and regrets, driving away the things I loved most.

Joy comes not from living a long life but from living a life with purpose.

The failure to act makes cowards of the brave.

Dream well, for there is nothing so powerful or so fragile as a dream.

Take care that you do not become the very thing you seek to defeat. —On the Philosophy of War, taught at the Hokaia War College

I release you from this burden. You carry too much. I am sorry.

And how did one nurture something rotten? With care, he thought. Not with violence.

I have saved a place for you, my love. In the quiet spaces between the stars.' -The Obregi Book of Flowers.