“When in doubt, we follow our hearts. Words can be false, images and sounds can be manipulated. But this...' He tapped his chest, over his heart. 'This is always true.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“What is the greatest mistake a parent can make?' she asked. 'To believe that your children will be just like you.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“A warrior with a cause is the most dangerous soldier of all”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“We do not always get what we want. Sometimes life presents us with surprises.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“So the captain, the first officer and the ship's doctor and sometimes the engineer all beam down to a planet. Together."
"The entire complement of the senior officers?"
Billy nodded
"And who has the command of the ship?"
"I don't know. Junior officers I guess."
"If they worked for me I would have them court-martialed. That sounds like a dereliction of duty."
"I know. I know. I always thought it odd myself. But that's not the point."
"What is the point?"
"They're usually accompanied by a guy in the red shirt. Always a crew member you've never seen before. And as soon as you see the shirt, you know he's going to die.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“BILLY: Did you ever watch Star Trek?
MACHIAVELLI: Do I look like I watch Star Trek?
BILLY: It's hard to tell who's a Trekkie.
MACHIAVELLI: Billy, I ran one of the most sophisticated secret service organizations in the world. I did not have time for Star Trek. (pause) I was more of a Star Wars fan. Why do you ask?
BILLY: Well, when Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock beamed down to a planet, usually with Dr. McCoy and sometimes with Scotty from engineering...
MACHIAVELLI: Wait a minute--what's Mr. Spock again?
BILLY: A Vulcan.
MACHIAVELLI: His rank.
BILLY: The first officer.
MACHIAVELLI: So the captain, the first officer, the ship's doctor, and sometimes the engineer all beam down to a planet. Together. The entire complement of the senior officers?
BILLY: (nods)
MACHIAVELLI: And who has command of the ship?
BILLY: (shrug) I don't know. Junior officers, I guess.
MACHIAVELLI: If they worked for me I'd have them court-martialed. That sounds like a gross dereliction of duty.
BILLY: I know. I always thought it was a little odd myself.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“There are some adventures not worth having.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“No man is ever just one thing.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Her hands flew to her mouth. 'Are we even twins?'
Josh rested his hand on her shoulder and brought his forehead to rest against hers, strands of their blond hair mingling. 'I will always be your brother, Sophie. I will always look after you.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Or maybe he just rediscovered his humanity,” Niten said quietly. “Maybe someone reminded him that he is human first, immortal second.”
“You said as if you are speaking from personal experience,” Perenelle said.”
“I am,” he said softly. “There was a time when I was . . . wild.”
“What happened?”
He smiled. “I met a redheaded Irish warrior.”
“And fell in love?” she teased.
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Do I look like I watch Star Trek?”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Have you any idea how to wake a hibernating Elder?”
Machiavelli shook his head.
“Mars, what about you? Any advice?”
“Yes. Don’t.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“How the mighty have fallen,” he said, looking down on Aten. Ard-Greimne was short and incredibly sensitive about his height. He always wore shoes with lifts in them. When Aten didn’t respond, he tried again. “I said, how the mighty—”
“It wasn’t funny or even clever the first time you said it,” Aten said. “Nor is it original.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“The small Japanese immortal sat cross-legged, his two swords resting flat on the ground before him. He folded his hands in his lap, closed his eyes and breathing through his nose, forcing the chill night air deep into his chest. He held it for a count of five, then shaped his lips into an O and blew it out again, puncturing a tiny hole in the swirling fog before his face.
Even though he would never admit it to anyone, Niten loved this moment. He had no affection for what was to come, but this brief time, when all preparations for battle were made and there was nothing left to do but wait, when the world felt still, as if it was holding its breath, was special. This moment, when he was facing death, was when he felt completely, fully alive.
He’d still been called Miyamoto Musashi and had been a teenager when he’d first discovered the genuine beauty of the quiet moment before a fight. Every breath suddenly tasted like the finest food, every sound was distinct and divine, and even on the foulest battlefields, his eyes would be drawn to something simple and elegant: a flower, the shape of a branch, the curl of a cloud.
A hundred years ago, Aoife had given him a book as a birthday present. He hadn’t had the heart to tell her that she’d missed his birthday by a month, but he had treasured the book, the first edition of The Professor by Charlotte Bronte. It included a line he had never forgotten: In the midst of life we are in death. Years later, he’d heard Ghandi take the same words and shift them around to create something that resonated deeply within him: In the midst of death life persists.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Don’t be creative. Don’t be stupid.”
“That’s what Machiavelli said. You guys really have a lot of faith in me, don’t you?”
“Neither one of us wants to lose you. Just be careful, Billy. Careful is my middle name.”
Black Hawk rolled his eyes. “You told me it was Henry.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“A demonstration is more than worth a thousand words.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Tell me, storyteller, what is the greatest mistake a parent can make? -To believe that your children will be just like you”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Perenelle shuddered. "You know I hate leprechauns more than almost anything.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Niccolo Machiavelli folded his arms across his chest and looked at the alchemyst. “I always knew we would meet again,” he said in French. “Though I never imagined it would be in these circumstances,” he added with a smile. “I was certain I’d get you in Paris last Saturday.” He bowed, an old-fashioned courtly gesture as Perenelle joined her husband. “Mistress Perenelle, it seems we are forever destined to meet on islands.”
“The last time we met you had poisoned my husband and attempted to kill me,” Perenelle reminded him, speaking in Italian.
Over three thousand years previously, the Sorceress and the Italian had fought at the foot of Mount Etna in Sicily. Although Perenelle had defeated Machiavelli, the energies they unleashed caused the ancient volcano to erupt. Lava flowed for five weeks after the battle and destroyed ten villages.
“Forgive me. I was younger then, and foolish. And you emerged the victor of the encounter. I carry the scars to this day.”
“Let us try and not blow up this island,” she said with a smile. Then she stretched out her hand. “I saw you try to save me earlier. There is no longer any enmity between us.”
Machiavelli took her fingers in his and bent over them. “Thank you. That pleases me.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Guess I can’t go back to working for Quetzalcoatl, eh?”
“When this is over, Billy,” Black Hawk said. “I think maybe we should go and visit the feathered serpent. Hand in our resignations. I’ll bring a box of matches.”
“You going to toast some marshmallows with him?”
“I’ll toast something,” Black Hawk promised.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Niten drew in a deep shuddering breath and the air was suffused with the delicate odor of green tea.
“And Tsagaglalal . . .”
“Yes, Father?”
Prometheus closed his eyes. “Tell Niten to find Aoife and ask her the question. Tell him . . . tell him she will say yes.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Do you know the greatest gift a parent can give to a child?” she asked, looking around the room. No one answered. “Independence. To allow them go out into the world and make their own decisions, travel their own paths.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Sometimes you can be very stupid!”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Mist swirled and the Spartoi closed in on the defenseless Niten. Lightning fast, one lashed out at him, catching him a blow on the thigh, and he fell to the bridge with a grunt of pain. He lay flat on his back, looked up at the lizard-like creatures and realized that he was going to die. The immortal felt just the vaguest pang of regret: He had always wanted to die in his beloved Japan and he had made Aoife promise that if he fell in some foreign country or shadowrealm, she would bring his body back to Reigando in the southwest of his country. But Aoife was gone. He would never be able to fulfill his promise to rescue her. And he would never rest in his home soil.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“And now that they have us here, under their control, they've dropped whatever act they had on earth. We're seeing them as they really are.' He dipped his glove into the water and watched as the water turned golden. The air suddenly smelled of citrus. 'Look! It's orange juice!'
'Josh, focus!'
'You sound just like Mom or Isis or whatever her name is.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Niten’s hand moved and the ragged end of the broken katana caught the crocodile in the center of the chest. Eyes wide, mouth gaping in surprise, it staggered back into the fog. “You talk too much,” Niten whispered.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
“Go down a few steps and take your positions,” Prometheus instructed. “Let no one onto the roof. Will and Palamedes, you take the north side. Saint-Germain, can you take the west? Joan, the east is yours. I’ll guard the south.”
“How come you get the dangerous side?” Saint-Germain asked.
The big Elder smiled. “They’re all dangerous sides.”
― Michael Scott, quote from The Enchantress
Michael Scott
Born place: in Dublin, Ireland
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“Disorder is inherent in stability. Civilized man doesn't understand stability. He's confused it with rigidity. Our political and economic and social leaders drool about stability constantly. It's their favorite word, next to 'power.'
'Gotta stabilize the political situation in Southeast Asia, gotta stabilize oil production and consumption, gotta stabilize student opposition to the government' and so forth.
Stabilization to them means order, uniformity, control. And that's a half-witted and potentially genocidal misconception. No matter how thoroughly they control a system, disorder invariably leaks into it. Then the managers panic, rush to plug the leak and endeavor to tighten the controls. Therefore, totalitarianism grows in viciousness and scope. And the blind pity is, rigidity isn't the same as stability at all.
True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed.”
― Tom Robbins, quote from Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
“For a moment the highlander lay quietly and studied the room in silent leisure, allowing the sleep to disperse and his rested mind to awaken fully.”
― Terry Brooks, quote from The Sword of Shannara
“It's fun to talk about heaven, about the throne of God and Jesus and Pop and the daughter we thought we had lost but will meet again someday. But it's not fun to talk about how we got there.”
― Todd Burpo, quote from Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back
“I moaned like a whore in church.
To be fair, I’d never actually heard a whore moan in church, but I had a feeling it sounded a lot like the unholy sounds pouring forth from my mouth.”
― Alice Clayton, quote from Wallbanger
“Perhaps consciousness arises when the brain's simulation of the world becomes so complex that it must include a model of itself.”
― Richard Dawkins, quote from The Selfish Gene
Wicked Lovely
War and Peace
Coraline
Far from the Madding...
Pet Sematary
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