8 quotes
Conquerors live by conquest; the first failure is a signal for the conquered to rise against them.
Star Bridge (1955)
He was a strong man in wise enough to realize that beyond power itself is the power of using it wisely.
Star Bridge (1955)
Power is habit-forming. We grew addicted to it. Few things survive the centuries’ slow decay: senses grow dull; passions grow weak; and ideals die. Only the taste for power lives on as an excuse for survival.
Star Bridge (1955)
You have a right to be curious. And I have a right to refuse to satisfy it. You may credit it to your own charm or an old man’s whim, if you like. You are interesting, you know. Hired killers always are. Not admirable, but interesting.
Star Bridge (1955)
Creation.…
It is its own nemesis. Success is temporary, and idolization will not make the ephemeral permanent. Decay is implicit in the birth of any organism.
An empire is an organism.
Star Bridge (1955)
Horn cut the thought off. That was a metaphysical blind alley. He had to assume the reality of things outside himself; this existence was self-centered enough, and he had no desire to return to the universe-creator illusion.
Star Bridge (1955)
“Whatever a woman is,” Wendre said, “she’s that second and a woman first.”
Star Bridge (1955)
The difficulties were great, the odds were greater, but Horn would conquer them. And, having conquered them, be left unsatisfied.
Life holds no kindness for such a man. Any defeat short of death is only a spur; success is empty.
With cold self-analysis, Horn recognized this fact, accepted it, and went on unchanged.
Star Bridge (1955)