Shards of a Broken Crown

The past can be a terrible weight bound to you by an unbreakable chain. You can drag it with you, forever looking over your shoulder at what holds you back. Or you can let it go and move forward. It’s your choice.

I let my anger consume me.” “It’s understandable,” she said. “It may be understandable,” replied Pug, “but it is no more forgivable for being understandable.

Well, he thought, dwelling on past failures once you'd learned all there was to learn was just heaping futility on failure.

people who took things for granted in these situations were called corpses.

It’s tempting to think of yourself as powerful when those around you are far less so, but compared to the simple fact of existence, to the power of life and how it hangs on, we are nothing.

History is written by victors,” said Duko. “But I have little use for history. It is the future with which I am concerned.

All his life he has been in the shadow of Grandfather, and of the man for whom he was named." ... "Then, Grandfather would tell us it has nothing to do with fame.” “He enjoyed the notoriety, though,” said Dash. “Agreed,” said Jimmy. “But he gained it from being so bloody brilliant at what he did. He didn’t set out to be the most fiendishly clever noble in history.” “Maybe that’s what Father knew from the start; it’s just getting the job done and let history decide what history will decide,” observed Dash.

There are cities that have no ... I don't know what to call it, an identity perhaps. A sense of being someplace different. Lots of those in the Empire. Very old cities with lots of history, but one day is much like the next.

Among our people we have the recognition, the sudden knowledge that a mate is before you. Not all our people know this certainty, and to them falls the difficult task of slowly building a bond with another who has also not known the recognition. With Calis and Elien, it is the difficult way. But often it ends in a love as profound as the first.

You must step forward, Arutha. You will never be the man for whom you were named, and you will never be your father, but nature didn't intend for you to be either of those men, no matter how worthy they were. You must become the best man you are capable of.

Besides, it seems to me that spreading the doctrine of doing good can harm no one.' Nakor shook his head. 'Would that it were true. Men have been put to death for preaching good.