"His batteries north of the swamp open fire on the nearest hill, which will later be assaulted. Batteries eastward, in front of the lake and the knoll where he stands, are rolled forward almost to the transverse road, between willow trees.."

"Look, children, it's very simple. What's going to happen is this. If you people go forward, we eat bread. If you people retreat, we eat sticks. That is all there is to war. Let no one tell you different."

"You Big Swords think you're good riders, good cavalrymen, but you have a long way to go, and you'll never be Mongols."

"An acrobat is lucky to die with the price of a coffin in his pocket."

"[H]is brain, shaped by milleniums of acceptance of authority, has formed the idea that by obeying an order, any order given by someone in authority, he can save his own life, or, perhaps more importantly, somehow protect his ancestors' land."

"Tang is the best soldier in China"

"Peasants can fool you They give in like sheep. They run away and hide. They offer their daughters if you'll let them alone. But suddenly one of them does a thing like this [and tries to kill you]."

"At the end of the day you want something. Even if you don't know what it is."

"In China a general's power goes as far as his troops can march in a few days. But from what I know of General Tang, he won't let this insult pass."

"Soldiers get paid sometimes. Bandits have to fend for themselves. But when the warlords don't have the money, their soldier become bandits. [...] Peking's supposed to pay the warlords. I mean, they're official generals, servants of the government , right? Most of them are bandits is what I say."

"In his country and mine, a bridge builder never sells guns. [...] In China would a scholar sell guns?"

"[A young mission worker in Shanghai told him that] China's nothing but a loosely allied group of principalities that establish whatever law there is through force of arms."

"Humans are driven by emotion. Much of our so-called logic is merely the rationalization of choices that make us feel good."

"Nobody knows: they just believe, and then because everyone else believes it, too, it feels like it couldn’t possibly be wrong. But consensus doesn’t mean truth. In fact, it means a lack of critical thinking, a blind following of the status quo. Humans are really good at doing that, too."

"“When history looks back on this century,” Paul said, “they will see it as an aberration. A bizarre spike on the energy graph when we suddenly realized the Earth had millions of years of the sun’s energy stored underground and used it all up in a brief blaze of glory. The worst thing that ever happened to the human race was the invention of the steam engine.” “You’re kidding me,” I said. “All of modern human advancement and invention, enabling billions of people to survive, that’s all nothing? Medicine? Global communication? Modern agriculture?” “It’s a glitch. It’s like blowing your whole trust fund in a weekend. When the fund runs out, you’ve got to live on your income.”"

"The whole earth is solar powered. The movement of clouds and air and water, the growth of plants and animals, it’s all just a big heat engine driven by the sun. Humanity has spent so long binging on fossil fuels that we’ve forgotten where it all comes from."

"“If not, we’ll go to plan B.” “Which is?” “I don’t know. I’ll make it up if we need it.”"

"Its purpose is the same as every other organism. To survive."

"“All I’m hearing is ‘I can’t’ when I needed that data yesterday. Go bore someone else with your excuses.”"

"“Having trouble with the help?” I asked. “Trying to weed out those who kiss other asses to cover their own,” she said. “There are people who get things done, and people who just get in the way.”"

"Fear is a prison, and only by facing it can we truly be free."

"Nnedi's work is imaginative and rich."

"For too long, the voices and visions for our future have been provided, for the most part, by and from a culturally European (if not Eurocentric) perspective. However, there is change afoot. The works of Octavia E. Butler are becoming mainstream, and names like Nnedi Okorafor and Lesley Nneka Arimah are bringing much needed flavor to the narratives that help shape our future."

"so much has changed there because of the work of Octavia Butler, because of the work of Nnedi Okorafor, because of the work of Tananarive Due."

"“The problem with you,” Force said, “is that you’re so used to pain and discomfort that your definition of feeling okay is not the greatest indicator of being okay.”"

"It was obvious who the Elders were. Important-looking men wearing important clothes being looked at by everyone else because they were important."

"I will never believe in Christ or Allah or any other God. I will never follow any religion."

"If you could, wouldn’t you replace your damaged legs with cybernetic ones? Why hold on to malfunctioning or poorly formed flesh and bone because “we were born with it”? That’s something said only by people who have no choice or have no actual experience with being…unable. What makes you you, really? I’m a mechanic. When something isn’t working, you replace it with something better, something that is working."

"However, time doesn’t change the essence of what you are."

"People treat it with more respect than they treat any police officer. Maybe because the robot is polite, helpful and never asks for bribes."

"True beauty lies in embracing our flaws and imperfections."

"Our bodies may be fragile, but our spirits are unbreakable"

"The greatest adventure lies not in our surroundings, but in the depths of our own souls."

"Strength comes not from avoiding suffering, but from enduring it with grace and resilience."

"We all have the power to embrace our scars and rise like phoenixes from the ashes of our pain."

"The fire in my veins burns hotter than any sun."

"I love books . I adore everything about them. I love the feel of the pages on my fingertips. They are light enough to carry, yet so heavy with worlds and ideas . I love the sound of the pages flicking against my fingers. Print against fingerprints. Books make people quiet, yet they are so loud."

"I speak my life into existence with each expressed breath I take. I tell you a story within which are more stories. Universes within universes. We are all spinning like small suns. I am like my own sun."

"To know someone's pain is to share in it. And to share in it is to relieve some of it."

"Just because something is not alive, does not mean that it is dead. You have to be alive first to be dead."

"Mortality smelled muddy and wet and I reeked of it."

"When I am not moving toward my fate, it comes to me."

"There is nothing that a man must believe that can’t be seen or touched or sensed."

"We fear what we don’t know."

"“Is it better to give or receive?” “They’re the same,” I said. “One can’t exist without the other. But if you keep giving without receiving, you’re a fool.”"

"“Are you willing to allow other the same right to their beliefs?” “If their beliefs don’t hurt others and, when I feel the need, I am allowed to call them stupid in my mind, then yes.”"

"People hate what they don’t understand."