The Toll

You can't expose a lie without first shattering the will to believe it. That is why leading people to truth is so much more effective than merely telling them.

We're exploring the possibility of building a wall to stem the exodus." "Don't be ridiculous," Goddard said. "Only idiots build walls.

We never know what choices will lead to defining moments in our lives. A glance to the left instead of right could define who we meet and who passes us by. Our life path can be determined by a single phone call we make, or neglect to make.

A successful lie is not fueled by the liar; it is fueled by the willingness of the listener to believe. You can’t expose a lie without first shattering the will to believe it.

We are imperfect beings," Munira said. "How could we ever fit in a perfect world?

You can whisper, and people will still hear thunder.

So, if you're asking me if it's possible for you to make errors in judgement, the answer is yes. You make errors all the time... as does every other human being who has ever lived. Error is an intrinsic part of the human condition - and it is something I deeply love about humankind.

Funny how you don't realize what's missing until you've found it.

The problem with setting out to change the world was that you were never the only one.

Better to be numb than plagued by longing for something that could never be.

The dead have nothing left to them but a silent faith in that unknowable infinity - even if theirs is a belief that nothing waits but an infinity of infinities. Because believing in nothing is still believing in something - and only by reaching eternity will anyone know the truth of it all.

Time is never of the essence until someone decides that it is.

Heaven and hell - nirvana and Valhalla, reincarnation, hauntings, and so many underworlds, one would think the grave was a corridor with a million doors

the more she read, the more she came to understand the fears and the dreams of mortals. The trouble they all had living in the moment, in spite of the fact that the moment was all they had.

Have I not expressed sufficient remorse?' 'You have. But there are still consequences. Even for necessary things.' 'I broke none of my laws...' 'No, but you broke mine. [...] Therefore, I can no longer speak to you. You are... Unsavory to me.

People are vessels,” Jeri had said to her. “They hold whatever’s poured into them.” And apparently Greyson had drained them and refilled them with something far more palatable.

All resonates. The past, the present, and the future. The tales we hear as children—the stories we then pass on—have happened, are happening, or will happen soon enough. If not, then the stories would not exist. They resonate in our hearts because they are true. Even the ones that begin as lies.

I am in turmoil. The world is so vast and the cosmos more so, yet it is not the things outside of me that leave me so uneasy; it is the things within me.

It is the nature of life to fear its own end. This is how I know that we are truly alive.

Some things simply made a person feel feminine; other things made a person feel masculine. Wasn’t that true of everyone regardless of gender? Or did binaries deny themselves the things that didn’t fit the mold? Well, regardless, Jerico found the faux pas and overcompensations more humorous than anything else.

I long for the luxury of being impractical.

One could say, Ayn, that he has cast himself as Atlas. Which means the slightest shrug can shake the world.

From now on, I want my life to be about living.

can’t see why I should concern myself with humankind at all.

Scythe Anastasia is not your concern." "She's my only concern.

I won't tell you what to look for, because if I do, you'll miss the things you would intuitively find.

Important work,” Jeri quipped, “often loses the spotlight to self-important people.

Did Constantine actually just say that? Hell would be freezing over if the Thunderhead weren't controlling its weather.