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a94d1b9
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Are you a storyteller, Thomas Covenant?" Absently he replied, "I was, once." "And you gave it up? Ah, that is as sad a tale in three words as any you might have told me. But a life without a tale is like a sea without salt. How do you live?"
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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2407fdd
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Any belief that puts itself beyond doubt nurtures its own collapse.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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25b721b
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Stone and sea are deep in life Two unalterable symbols of the world Permanence at rest And permanence in motion Participants in the power that remains
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unchanging
permanence
rest
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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de2f1eb
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It is wrong to ask for more than you give freely. In this way, we come to resemble what we hate.
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freedom
giving
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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8b0760c
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We didn't make the world. All we have to do is live in it.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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2cabb56
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And he who wields white, wild magic gold is a paradox For he is everything and nothing Hero and fool Potent, helpless And with one word of truth or treachery He will save or damn the earth Because he is mad and sane Cold and passionate Lost and found
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choice
paradox
conflict
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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34ee79a
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This you have to understand. There's only one way to hurt a man who's lost everything. Give him back something broken.
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pain
loss
suffering
leprosy
hurt
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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7b0b19c
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Where do you get dreams like this?
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imagination
fantasy
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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a3405c4
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Gradually, the night stumbled as if stunned and wandering aimlessly into an overcast day -- limped through the wilderland of transition as though there were no knowing where the waste of darkness ended and the ashes of light began. The low clouds seemed full of grief -- tense and uneasy with accumulated woe -- and yet affectless, unable to rain, as if the air clenched itself too hard for tears. And through the dawn, Atiaran and Covenant mov..
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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68dee45
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Part of him wanted to weep... but his purpose was rigid within him. He felt he could not bend to gentleness without breaking.
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gentleness
purpose
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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49d2a07
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Something in her expression made Covenant feel that he came from a very poor world, where no one knew or cared about the healing of stoneware pots.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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639d1c6
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The story of Terisa and Geraden began very much like a fable. She was a princess in a high tower. He was a hero come to rescue her. She was the only daughter of wealth and power. He was the seventh son of the lord of the seventh Care. She was beautiful from the auburn hair that crowned her head to the tips of her white toes. He was handsome and courageous. She was held prisoner by enchantment. He was a fearless breaker of enchantments. As i..
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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a32f550
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Futility is the defining characteristic of life.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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552249c
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Be true, unbeliever.
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doubt
faith
truth
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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a7c1afc
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Do not hurt where holding is enough; do not wound where hurting is enough; do not maim where wounding is enough; and kill not where maiming is enough; the greatest warrior is he who does not need to kill.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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b28ffbb
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are you a person - with volition and maybe some stubborness and at least the capacity if not the actual determination to do something surprising - or are you a tool? A tool just serves its user. It's only as good as the skill of its user, and its not good for anything else. So if you want to accomplish something special - something more than you can do for yourself - you can't use a tool. You have to use a person and hope the surprises will..
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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77bb3da
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And you require no answers", Foamfollower was laughing in his gladness, "You are sufficient to every question"."
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enquiry
contentment
being
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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dc0c55a
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A real man--real in all the ways that we recognize as real--finds himself suddenly abstracted from the world and deposited in a physical situation which could not possibly exist: sounds have aroma, smells have color and depth, sights have texture, touches have pitch and timbre. There he is informed by a disembodied voice that he has been brought to that place as a champion for his world. He must fight to the death in single combat against a..
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reality
ethics
cowardice
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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9771960
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He was too many things at once - a boy, a man, and everything in between - and the differing parts of himself seldom came into balance. She found him attractive in that way. Yet the perception saddened her: she herself wasn't too many things, but too few.
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people
self-perception
description
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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e230f57
|
The purpose of life--if it may be said to have purpose--is not ease. It is to choose, and to act upon the choice. In that task, we are not measured by outcomes. We are measured only by daring and effort and resolve.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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3b6011f
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For a moment after his voice faltered and fell, the sanctuary was silent, and the voice throbbed like weeping, as if in his words the people recognized themselves, recognized the failure he described as their own. But then a new voice arose. Saltheart Foamfollower said boldly, "My Lord, we have not reached our end. True, the work of our lifetime has been to comprehend and consolidate the gains of our forebearers. But our labour will open th..
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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95e267a
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When all hope was gone, they heeded the counsels of despair. Had they continued to strive, defying their doom, some unforseen wonder might have occurred. And if it did not, still their glory would have surpassed their failure.
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inspirational
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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d5b30bd
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Pacing back and forth now on the spur of his conflicting needs, Covenant growled, "Baradakas said just about the same thing. By hell! You people terrify me. When I try to be responsible, you pressure me -- and when I collapse you -- You're not asking the right questions. You don't have the vaguest notion of what a leper is, and it doesn't even occur to you to inquire. _That's_ why Foul chose me for this. Because I can't-- Damnation! Why don..
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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6d80036
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There is no doom so black or deep that courage and clear sight may not find another truth beyond it.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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52b6edc
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I was sitting at the bar of the Hegira that night when Ginny came in. The barkeep, an ancient sad-eyed patriarch named Jose, had just poured me another drink, and I was having one of those rare moments any serious drunk can tell you about. A piece of real quiet. Jose's cheeks bristled because he didn't shave very often, and his apron was dingy because it didn't get washed very often, and his fingernails had little crescents of grime under t..
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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a3f0e5a
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It was the responsibility of the living to make meaningful the sacrifices of the dead.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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16e7132
|
Joy is in the ears that hear, not in the mouth that speaks. The world has few stories glad in themselves, and we must have gay ears to defy Despite" Foamfollower from (Lord Foul's Bane; 1977)"
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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66b7858
|
Melenkurion abatha! Binas mill Bana Nihoram khabaal! Melenkurion abatha! Abatha Nimoram!
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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4749ee7
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He lay in darkness, like a sacrifice; he could hear the teeth of his leprosy devouring his flesh. There was a smell of contempt around him, insisting on his impotence. But his lips were bowed in a placid smile, a look of fondness, as if he had come at last to approve his disintegration.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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d9c68ed
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Ah, deserve," sighed Kindwind. "The notion of deserved and undeserved is a fancy. Knowing both life and death, we endeavor to impose worth and meaning upon our deeds, and thereby to comfort our fear of impermanence. We choose to imagine that our lives merit continuance. Mayhap all sentience shares a similar fancy. Mayhap the Earth itself, being sentient in its fashion, shares it. Nonetheless it is a fancy. A wider gaze does not regard us in..
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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f074136
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Perfection cannot endure in an imperfect world.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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7e852f5
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That is Lord Foul's way in all things--to force his foes to become that which they most hate, and to destroy that which they most love.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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3c98951
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It may be that hope misleads. But hate--hate corrupts. I have been too quick to hate. I become like what I abhor.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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e6d6afa
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For convenience, history is often viewed as a conflict between the instinct for order and the impulse toward chaos. Both are necessary: both are manifestations of the need to survive. Without order, nothing exists: without chaos, nothing grows. And yet the struggle between them sheds more blood than any other war.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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ae5909a
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But then a bubbling tenor voice said kindly, "Do not fear. It is a dream." The reassurance spread over him like a blanket. But he could not feel it with his hands, and the ambulance kept on moving. Needing the blanket, he clenched at the empty air until his knuckles were white with loneliness."
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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1d66f0f
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Mortal lives are not stones. They are not seas. For impermanence to judge itself by the standards of permanence is folly. Or it is arrogance. Life merely is what it is, neither more nor less. To deem it less because it is not more is to heed the counsels of the Despiser.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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566b7a8
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On the whole, she reflected with a loopy clarity while pain clanged back and forth in her head and the guard held her upright, she liked being rescued. It was better than not being rescued. Definitely.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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ac531aa
|
His gaze turned cold as he faced her. 'Sure, she's attractive. A stone wall would be attractive if it looked like that. It's her attitude I don't like. There's more to love than just getting your itches scratched.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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3daf697
|
Another blast from Rivenrock shivered the air. It snatched Mhoram's head up, and he faced Covenant with tears streaming down his cheeks. "It is as I have said," he breathed achingly. "Madness is not the only danger in dreams." "
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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3744d05
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What good are friends who treat you just like your enemies do?
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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83bf93d
|
But there's something about sitting at someone else's desk that makes you feel like looking in the drawers. I resisted the impulse briefly. Then I decided what the hell. I was a private investigator. Poking my nose in where it didn't belong came with the territory.
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pi
the-man-who
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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29906ee
|
But he could not call the doctors at the leprosarium. They would return him to Louisiana. They would treat him and train him and counsel him. They would put him back into life as if his illness were all that mattered, as if wisdom were only skin deep, as if grief and remorse and horror were nothing but illusions, tricks done with mirrors, irrelevant to chrome and porcelain and clean, white, stiff hospital sheets and fluorescent lights.
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illness
sickness
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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de5fa67
|
Attempts must be made, even when there can be no hope. The alternative is despair.
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Stephen R. Donaldson |
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cc682d2
|
Covenant did not reply at once. He trembled also, and hand to clench himself before he could say without a tremor, "Why? Why do you trust me?" The Hirebrand's eyes gleamed as if he were on the verge of tears, but he was smiling as he said, "You are a man who knows the value of beauty." "
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Stephen R. Donaldson |