Home > Work > There and NEVER, EVER BACK AGAIN: A Dark Lord's Diary: (A Memoir and Manifesto For Villains and Monsters)
1 " And lo, at the moment when she needed it most, she found the force within her. She didn't find it in time to avoid having her head bitten off, but she sure did die enlightened. "
― Jeff Mach , There and NEVER, EVER BACK AGAIN: A Dark Lord's Diary: (A Memoir and Manifesto For Villains and Monsters)
2 " Give me the ridiculous, because it's a gateway to the sublime. "
3 " Punching your companions is unhelpful. Go into the forest and practice unarmed combat against a tree. "
4 " I am a product of the flames which burnt me; the anvil which forged me; and the will that made me grow formidable instead of breaking. "
5 " I was imprisoned, and no-one freed me.I cried for help, and no-one freed me.Eventually, I shook off my chains and I returned.They said, 'Why do you no longer love us?'I said, 'I realized that you have always been my chains. "
6 " First off, contrary to popular belief, I'm as human as you are. One of us should probably be ashamed of that. I'm not entirely sure that it's me. "
7 " I am a Namer. "
8 " I don't make monsters.Definitions make monsters.You make definitions. "
9 " It’s a little-known fact, but Unicorns are something like 20% paint, and their horns are stolen exclusively from endangered species. "
10 " May you reign supreme but never unchallenged. "
11 " And sadly, fairytale kingdoms work poorly. It’s not just that they’re fairytales and thus not terribly real; we’ve seen stranger and more mythical attempts at leadership in our time. The problem is that Fairytales attract Good Faeries, and thus Bad Faeries; Evil Queens; Huntsmen, and, of course, The Grand Vizier. And all of those tend to lead to ruination. "
12 " Dark Lords shatter destiny; it's what we do. "
13 " There's not a lot in this world as motivational as a firm belief in an unbending universal morality which just happens to place you on the side of the angels. "
14 " Orcs live in caves. Goblins live in shadows. It's the pain of distance versus the pain of proximity. "
15 " Burn the witch!” will always be a simpler option than, “Raise a very, very large army, cross the abysmal hells cape, battle an op- posing very, very large army, and try to figure out some way to kill the Dark Lord!” And it’s significantly more efficient to chant, as well. "
16 " Surety is a narcotic which masks the fact that you're dying. Losing it is a gift. "
17 " When I started out, all I knew was that I was not going to stay where I'd been. I was going to change. I was going to make my part of the world into something that I wanted–not wait, hope, or beg for the world to start to want me. "
18 " The Chosen One is often told that failure is not an option. The Dark Lord knows that failure, like hurt and harm, is one not simply an option, but one of many companions. True power seldom comes without risk. Sufficient risk eventually results in harm. If you think you can trap a thousand demons and never have a single one break through your defenses and wreak havoc on your mind for a while—then you’ve likely never summoned any demons at all. "
19 " The road to powerful magical items is paved with good intentions and hideous deathtraps. "
20 " How often must you be betrayed before you see that others are taking your kindness for weakness, your silence for an inability to speak? "