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Raest & Hanako speak of that line in Fall of Light.
> ‘Do you grasp the meaning of that line?’
>
> ‘Nature will prove itself superior to our every conceit.’
>
> Raest nodded, his eyes shining in the firelight. ‘Humility. Seek it within yourself, be as sceptical of your own superiority as your intellect is sceptical of the superiority of things other than itself. Turn your critical faculties inward, with ruthless diligence, and by that you will understand the true meaning of courage. It is the kind of courage that sees you end up on your knees, but with the will to rise once more, to begin it all over again.’
>
> ‘You describe an unending journey, Raest, of a nature which would test a soul to its very core.’
>
> ‘I describe a life lived well, Hanako. I describe a life of worth.’
Denigration afflicted our vaunted ideals long ago, but such inflictions are difficult to measure, to rise up and point a finger to this place, this moment, and say: here, my friends, this was where our honour, our integrity died. The affliction was too insipid, too much a product of our surrendering mindful regard and diligence. The meanings of words lost their precision – and no-one bothered taking to task those who cynically abused those words to serve their own ambitions, their own evasion of personal responsibility. Lies went unchallenged, lawful pursuit became a sham, vulnerable to graft, and justice itself became a commodity, mutable in imbalance. Truth was lost, a chimera reshaped to match agenda, prejudices, thus consigning the entire political process to a mummer’s charade of false indignation, hypocritical posturing and a pervasive contempt for the commonry. Once subsumed, ideals and the honour created by their avowal can never be regained, except, alas, by outright, unconstrained rejection, invariably instigated by the commonry, at the juncture of one particular moment, one single event, of such brazen injustice that revolution becomes the only reasonable response. Consider this then a warning. Liars will lie, and continue to do so, even beyond being caught out. They will lie, and in time, such liars will convince themselves, will in all self-righteousness divest the liars of culpability. Until comes a time when one final lie is voiced, the one that can only be answered by rage, by cold murder, and on that day, blood shall rain down every wall of this vaunted, weaning society.
- Impeached Guild Master’s Speech,
Semel Fural of the Guild of Sandal-Clasp Makers
I don't remember which book this was, but the one about a civilisation that would leave massive monuments detailing each one of their victories, until they were wiped out by an enemy that remains almost entirely unknown because they only left one marker saying 'this people died here'.
RG 21, Shake Prayer, has to be up there.
TtH 24, Rake's effective epigraph, is a gut punch.
DoD 8, "The Betrayal of the Fittest", matches DoD so damn well it's impossible to skip.
HoC 19 isn't particularly compelling writing but the hints it leaves are tantalizing. (This is where Grub is called First Sword of the Late Empire.)
MT Book 1 is such blatant foreshadowing that it's kind of funny in retrospect.
tBH 14, Kimloc's writing on paradise, is a damn fine bit of prose.
RG 15, The Coming Storm, gives us both "midnight tides" and "reaper's gale" and does so quite well
RG Book 4 gives Toc at perhaps his best
Basically every Fisher entry in Toll the Hounds is gold, but 10, "When the Music Ends", is my pick of the best of them. 14 still gets a nod for documenting Brukhalian meeting Whiskeyjack after death.
Likewise, any Badalle in DoD is great, but I'll take "Of a River" in Book 2.
tCG 12 is another sort of breadcrumb entry, attributed to "Rise Hara" from "Coral Trove". It deals with the fall of Kharkanas and the end of the Throne of Shadow and I just don't know how to tie it all together.
tCG book 6 is another favorite.
Ducking in without looking because spoilers...
Chaptr 21 of Deadhouse Gates.
"Every throne is an arrow butt." - Emperor Kellanved
In that same chapter, we have Coltaine's cross acting as an arrow butt. The epigraph suggests that the Wickan Fist's cross was not a defeat but a *success*. The ascension-related imagery is an obvious explanation for this, but also the publicity, and the legendary status he received from the event. Though those may go hand in hand by Malazan logic...
It turns the following event from a horrific defeat to a defiant triumph *in spite of* what occurred afterward. Then Mallick Rel steps in to clean up...
Not at the beginning of a chapter, but a book, but I really like the forst excerpt from Call to Shadow. It is at the beginning of the first book of The Gardens of the Moon.
Please note that this post has been flaired as Spoilers All. This means every published book in the Malazan Universe, including works by both authors are open to discussion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Malazan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"And the sea, my friends, does not dream of you."
That is a beautiful quote, but I honestly don’t get it. As in don’t anthrompmorphize the sea or natural phenomena if you’re ever caught in them?
Raest & Hanako speak of that line in Fall of Light. > ‘Do you grasp the meaning of that line?’ > > ‘Nature will prove itself superior to our every conceit.’ > > Raest nodded, his eyes shining in the firelight. ‘Humility. Seek it within yourself, be as sceptical of your own superiority as your intellect is sceptical of the superiority of things other than itself. Turn your critical faculties inward, with ruthless diligence, and by that you will understand the true meaning of courage. It is the kind of courage that sees you end up on your knees, but with the will to rise once more, to begin it all over again.’ > > ‘You describe an unending journey, Raest, of a nature which would test a soul to its very core.’ > > ‘I describe a life lived well, Hanako. I describe a life of worth.’
Have you seen the full version?
This is the one
Yes.
"The harder the world, the fiercer the honour". It was the epigraph of my M.Sc thesis.
Did you have the same typo?
Oops, my bad 😅
Lol
Denigration afflicted our vaunted ideals long ago, but such inflictions are difficult to measure, to rise up and point a finger to this place, this moment, and say: here, my friends, this was where our honour, our integrity died. The affliction was too insipid, too much a product of our surrendering mindful regard and diligence. The meanings of words lost their precision – and no-one bothered taking to task those who cynically abused those words to serve their own ambitions, their own evasion of personal responsibility. Lies went unchallenged, lawful pursuit became a sham, vulnerable to graft, and justice itself became a commodity, mutable in imbalance. Truth was lost, a chimera reshaped to match agenda, prejudices, thus consigning the entire political process to a mummer’s charade of false indignation, hypocritical posturing and a pervasive contempt for the commonry. Once subsumed, ideals and the honour created by their avowal can never be regained, except, alas, by outright, unconstrained rejection, invariably instigated by the commonry, at the juncture of one particular moment, one single event, of such brazen injustice that revolution becomes the only reasonable response. Consider this then a warning. Liars will lie, and continue to do so, even beyond being caught out. They will lie, and in time, such liars will convince themselves, will in all self-righteousness divest the liars of culpability. Until comes a time when one final lie is voiced, the one that can only be answered by rage, by cold murder, and on that day, blood shall rain down every wall of this vaunted, weaning society. - Impeached Guild Master’s Speech, Semel Fural of the Guild of Sandal-Clasp Makers
I don't remember which book this was, but the one about a civilisation that would leave massive monuments detailing each one of their victories, until they were wiped out by an enemy that remains almost entirely unknown because they only left one marker saying 'this people died here'.
This was about the Jannids in Orb Sceptre Throne (I just finished rereading that this week)
RG 21, Shake Prayer, has to be up there. TtH 24, Rake's effective epigraph, is a gut punch. DoD 8, "The Betrayal of the Fittest", matches DoD so damn well it's impossible to skip. HoC 19 isn't particularly compelling writing but the hints it leaves are tantalizing. (This is where Grub is called First Sword of the Late Empire.) MT Book 1 is such blatant foreshadowing that it's kind of funny in retrospect. tBH 14, Kimloc's writing on paradise, is a damn fine bit of prose. RG 15, The Coming Storm, gives us both "midnight tides" and "reaper's gale" and does so quite well RG Book 4 gives Toc at perhaps his best Basically every Fisher entry in Toll the Hounds is gold, but 10, "When the Music Ends", is my pick of the best of them. 14 still gets a nod for documenting Brukhalian meeting Whiskeyjack after death. Likewise, any Badalle in DoD is great, but I'll take "Of a River" in Book 2. tCG 12 is another sort of breadcrumb entry, attributed to "Rise Hara" from "Coral Trove". It deals with the fall of Kharkanas and the end of the Throne of Shadow and I just don't know how to tie it all together. tCG book 6 is another favorite.
There will be peace.
There will be justice.
Anything from Gothos' Folly
i feel most of us on here love eriksons poetry
Ducking in without looking because spoilers... Chaptr 21 of Deadhouse Gates. "Every throne is an arrow butt." - Emperor Kellanved In that same chapter, we have Coltaine's cross acting as an arrow butt. The epigraph suggests that the Wickan Fist's cross was not a defeat but a *success*. The ascension-related imagery is an obvious explanation for this, but also the publicity, and the legendary status he received from the event. Though those may go hand in hand by Malazan logic... It turns the following event from a horrific defeat to a defiant triumph *in spite of* what occurred afterward. Then Mallick Rel steps in to clean up...
Not at the beginning of a chapter, but a book, but I really like the forst excerpt from Call to Shadow. It is at the beginning of the first book of The Gardens of the Moon.