The Hands of the Emperor

It is a small thing, yes, but on small things hinge the turning of the world. Very rarely does the opportunity come to stand up against torture and evildoing - or for justice and equality - in the grand gestures most of us dream of. On the other hand, the opportunity to stand up against a small injustice, or for a small truth or a small good, comes nearly every day.

He left the visions of a perfectly just society to the philosophers; in his experience they usually required assuming one could simply ignore some fundamental element of human nature. He had spent his lifetime working within an ancient, complex, and corrupt bureaucracy and court. He no longer believed one could legislate out of existence greed, or stupidity, or sheer perversity of will. It reassured him that neither could one legislate out of existence love, or hope, or the desire for beauty.

He was not an artist of anything but the hidden intricacies underlying government bureaucracy, and no one else actually cared whether those were beautiful or not.

The world changes one person and one decision at a time. None of us know what decision, precisely, is the telling one.

I am not, and have never been, willing to compromise my principles. When I look back on what I have done with my life I rest content knowing that when I have made mistakes, I made them from my principles and to the best of my knowledge, and that I was able to learn from those mistakes and do my best to fix them.

It is by taking stands in small matters that we change the world. Sometimes in small ways. Sometimes in much larger ones.

Islander culture did not think it shameful to show strong emotions. It was, in fact, considered the mark of a strong soul, one to be admired, when beauty or love or grief could call forth such powerful response.

what is the purpose of government?” “To steward the resources of all for the benefit of all,” he replied automatically to the sudden sharp question, the response one he had laboured over for so many nights trying to discern the right way forward.

not everyone had had the benefits of a cantankerous relative beating the need to learn to think for oneself into their heads at a young age.

The vast majority of people wish to have meaningful lives. They wish to live well—to do meaningful things. If we give them all the opportunities to do so, and take away the fear that they will have nowhere to go, nothing to eat, nothing to support themselves with—the world will change.

I suppose we always hope that those closest to us can see into our hearts—but unless we invite them, or show them in words or deeds, how can they?

I sit at the feet of the Sun.' 'And what will you bring home?' 'My name is Cliopher Mdang of Tahivoa. My island is Loaloa. My dance is Aoteketetana. From the feet of the Sun I will bring home the fire.' 'And what is this fire you bring?' 'I will bring home the hearth-fire of a new life for the world.

An impulsive word can start a war. A timely word can stop one. A simple act of friendship can change the course of history.

His Radiancy would give you the house if you asked him.” “His Radiancy would probably give me an island if I asked him, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to.

The vendor looked at him through narrow eyes. “What is your name, what is your island, and what is your dance?” The questions shocked him through to the core. It took him a moment to pull up the traditional answers. “I am Cliopher Mdang of Tahivoa in Gorjo City. My island is Loaloa.” He paused a moment, before the desire for it to be true overcame the fear that he overreached himself in the claim. His third answer came, as a result, much more quietly. “My dance is Aōteketētana.” “Where have you danced the fire?” These were the questions out of the Lays of the Wide Seas. Cliopher had been expecting to haggle over price, not his identity. He took a breath. No one was listening to him but the vendor. “I learned the steps on Loaloa from the direction of the tanà, my great-uncle Tovo. My feet bear the scars of my learning.” He gestured down, though the old burns on the sides of his feet, where he had brushed up against the coals, were hidden by his Solaaran-style sandals. “And I danced the fire across the Wide Seas when I sailed down the river of time in a ship of my own hands’ shaping.

I have the same amount everyone is given, twenty-four hours in a day. It's what we use it for that matters.

...whoever takes the responsibility gains the power.

An individual person, taking a stand, attracts laughter and opposition and opprobrium—and assistance. For every person who speaks there are many more who stay silent.

I am suggesting that as a leader it is your responsibility to shape the culture of your communities, to encourage them to beauty and resilience and prosperity, to make them thrive.

He no longer believed he could legislate out of existence greed, or stupidity, or sheer perversity of will. It reassured him that neither could one legislate out of existence love, or hope, or the desire for beauty.

I have heard myself called a loony, a lowbrow, a lowlife—and also a lackey, a lickspittle, a lapdog, a tool. I am considered by the conservative outlandishly radical, and by the liberal the toady of an outmoded system.

Come now, I hear you called him a soft-spoken hypocrite. What did he call you to prompt that?' Cliopher bit his lip. 'A reasonable man.' 'A strike to the heart! My dear Kip, do not look so mulish. I would never stoop so low as to call you reasonable. You are quite the most radical idealist I have ever known-or at least, the only sane one.

Who is this who comes out of the sunrise?

I sing the Wide Seas!

-I'll need a new court costume, won't I?' 'Oh, more than one.' 'Hell,' said Cliopher, 'that's what this is. Hell.' 'You do like dressing up,' Conju said coaxingly. "And dressing down fools.

--Oh. The reason I am sitting drunk in the ducal suite of the Dolphin Hotel is that I was made the Lord Chancellor of Zunidh today--yesterday. My mother is never going to forgive me.

You may regret what you have awoken, Cliopher.