The Burning White

Some say, ‘Who you are is what you do.’ They’re wrong, but not all wrong. What you do forms who you are. Then who you are forms what you do. It’s a vicious cycle, or a virtuous one, depending. One act doesn’t undo all of who you are, but a thousand acts make you who you are. So it’s simple, though not easy: stop creating the wrong you.

Strength is a choice, courage is a habit: Andross Guile

If you’re trapped in the darkness all alone, how do you know you’re alone and not actually surrounded by an army of friends, also silent, also afraid in the dark, merely waiting for the sound of one voice to rouse them from fear, to fight for freedom?

We know ourselves by how we see ourselves mirrored in others’ eyes. So when a man lies habitually, he distorts the mirror he holds up to the world. In fooling others, he loses himself. Those who praise him? Those who love him? He knows they must simply be fools. He hates himself because there’s a gap between what he is and what he believes himself to be. If the gap grows too large, it becomes a tear, a schism. A man torn asunder lives in madness. So, my friend, do you know who you are?

But given time, horror fades, and repetition makes what was unthinkable now normal; the monstrous is made manageable. For mankind adapts to every horror.

What do you call it when you realize you've been an asshole your whole life?" Gavin asked. "A good start?" Orholam offered.

Do you want to know one of the deepest horrors of life? None of us is needed, not truly. It’s just nicer for those who love us if we’re there.

Sinking into sarcasm is the heart’s last rebellion against a mind choosing helplessness.

That was the trouble of a consistency in moral affairs: holding yourself up to the measure you judge others by is three clicks past irritating.

Kip had tasted honey that few in the history of the world had tasted: he’d had meaningful work, and friendship with titans; a great marriage to a strong, good, beautiful woman; and a father who’d been willing to die for him.

Denying reality only works as long as enough powerful people see a benefit in playing along.

Time makes a coward’s decisions for her.

A man who’ll never risk being seen as an asshole is a man who doesn’t believe in anything.

We keep secret what we fear makes us weak, not realizing in our fear that it is the keeping of secrets itself that weakens us.

a commander should use his quiet hours to obsess over two questions only: what does the enemy know, and what are the enemy’s problems?

Gunner? Captain? Let’s go find God. I’ll bring the sword, just in case He’s a dick.

One can revere what one wishes to emulate. One can’t revere what one wishes to replace.

Silence is isolation chosen. Silence is darkness, and every evil loves the dark.

In the face of life’s black mysteries, answers feel barren. All I know is that I can only choose my attitude. The mysteries aren’t thereby untangled, but when I choose gratitude, I see life flower.

A man can’t fall in love at first sight with a woman; he falls in love with what he imagines she is. She is the canvas onto which he casts his hopes and dreams.

When your answers lead you logically to despair, you don't have the wrong answers; you have the right answers--to the wrong questions.

Remember to see yourself as you are in the eyes of those who love you.

Maybe . . . rule as if it’s a gift, and not something you’re owed?

Fuck the old way. Fuck the new way. As he had always been, he himself would be the third way. He would be himself, and he would be terrible.

And here’s thing,” Gunner said. “I kin understand it when a man throws back a few too many drinks on a lonesome night, gets sour inside, and sucks at the teat of a musket for jus’ long enough so that big ole ‘fuck you’ we scream at the world bounces back as ‘fuck me’ and he pulls the trigger. I kin understand when a girl climbs a tree and tries on a noose necklace for size and once she got it on thinkin’, ‘I come this far, why not?’ and takin’ that hop. Prob’ly e’ryone who looks oft a cliff thinks a taking the sharp drop with a sudden stop. E’ery sailor has thought of takin’ that swim what fattens sharks. We all got the black moment when the evil eye of the barrel dares a starin’ contest. And we’re all a hair trigger’s pull from the musket’s dare. It’s the devil’s gift, ain’t it? It’s the heritage o’ man, aye?

Why does everyone else always guess round numbers? They’re not any more likely.

Of all the things that die, hope is the most easily resurrected.

Strength is a choice. Courage is a habit. Unfortunately, cowardice is, too.