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The Star King (Demon Princes, #1) QUOTES

The Star King (Demon Princes, #1) QUOTES

1 " The Brinktown jail is one of the most ingenious ever propounded by civic authorities. It must be remembered that Brinktown occupies the surface of a volcanic butte, overlooking a trackless jungle of quagmire, thorn, eel-vine skiver tussock. A single road leads from city down to jungle; the prisoner is merely locked out of the city. Escape is at his option; he may flee as far through the jungle as he sees fit: the entire continent is at his disposal. But no prisoner ever ventures far from the gate; and, when his presence is required, it is only necessary to unlock the gate and call his name. "

― Jack Vance , The Star King (Demon Princes, #1)

2 " Who are our basic enemies? This is a secret, unknown even to these basic enemies.” — Xaviar Skolcamp, Over-Centennial Fellow of the Institute, indulgently, in response to a journalist’s too-searching question "

― Jack Vance , The Star King (Demon Princes, #1)

3 " We hold that gain after toil, triumph after adversity, achievement to a goal long-sought, is a greater beneficence than prebendary nutrient from the teat of an indulgent government. "

― Jack Vance , The Star King (Demon Princes, #1)

4 " And there was another melancholy - different yet somehow similar - which came to Gersen as he watched the debonair folk about him. They were all graceful and easy, untouched by the toil and pain and terror that existed on remote worlds. Gersen envied them their detachment, their social skills. Still, would he change places with any of them? Hardly. "

― Jack Vance , The Star King (Demon Princes, #1)

5 " What is an evil man? The man is evil who coerces obedience to his private ends, destroys beauty, produces pain, extinguishes life. It must be remembered that killing evil men is not equivalent to expunging evil, which is a relationship between a situation and an individual. A poisonous spore will grow only in a nutrient soil. "

― Jack Vance , The Star King (Demon Princes, #1)