Interesting Passages

[Naradhan]

It so often happens that while reading books certain passages rises up and strikes a chord in your mind.

A resonance that you may want to share with others. You can post such passages here. And if you find in yourself, patience enough to explain the significance of such quoted passage you may also do so ...

And be also make sure to mention the name and author of the book.

[Naradhan]

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson

"How old?" Duiker's voice was as parched as the Odhan that awaited them.
"Five. The T'lan Imass chose this place for him. The effort of killing him would have proved too costly, given that the rest of the family still awaited them. So they dragged the child here––shattered his bones, every one, as many times as they could on so small a frame––then pinned him beneath this rock."
.
.
.
"But why?" The question ripped from Duiker's throat.
"Pogroms need no reason, sir, none that can weather challenge, in any case. Difference in kind is the first recognition, the only one needed, in fact. Land, domination, pre-emptive attacks––all just excuses, mundane justifications that do nothing but disguise the simple distinction. They are not us. We are not them."

[Naradhan]

Cold Days by Jim Butcher

Taking a beating well is not for amateurs.
You have to get started early, maybe by getting beaten up a lot as a child in school. Then you refine your raw talent by taking more beatings as you get older.
Generally, you can seek out almost any crew of athletic types, and you'll find several willing to oblige you, under one guise or another. True craftsmen then seek out gifted individuals with a particular skill set to deliver the most skilled and professional beatings.
That's how you learn to fight, really.
You take beatings, and you get tougher, and if you don't start avoiding all the fights, you continue taking beatings until you learn how it's done. Or they kill you.
Some guys are born lucky, with mad natural fighting skills, and they hardly ever take a beating––but that's never been me.
I've had to learn the hard way.
Like every other kind of pain, beatings are educational.....

.... Ace (Name of the guy beating pulp out of our Hero) was handing me a beating of the second kind. He wasn't thinking. He had a need to make me feel pain. And I was obliging the hell out of him.....

.... Meanwhile, I gave Ace the part that was important to him. I screamed. ...

[Naradhan]

Jingo by Terry Pratchett

“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”

[maryland]

good thread...

[BangaloreaN]

[Naradhan]

Reading maketh a full man ennu kettittille ...

[BangaloreaN]

Reading maketh a full man ennu kettittille ...

athinoru FULL medichadichaal mathi.

[maryland]

hieroglyphic lipi aano..?

[Naradhan]

House of Chains by Steven Erikson

"There's little value in seeking to find reasons for why people do what they do, or feel the way they feel. Hatred is a most pernicious weed, finding root in any kind of soil. It feeds on itself."
"With words."
"Indeed, with words. Form an opinion, say it often enough and pretty soon everyone's saying it right back at you, and then it becomes a conviction, fed by unreasoning anger and defended with weapons of fear. At which point, words become useless and you're left with a fight to the death."
Karsa grunted. "A fight beyond death, I would say."
"True enough. Generation after generation."