Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

“Victory is not fate. It is an act of will.'

Primarch Rogal Dorn”
― John French, Mortis

“so we lose that part that a child and an old man and a father looking into his child’s eyes knows â€� that the next step is not a promise. That to live is to fight. We forget that. We forget that life is weakness in the face of eternity. To take the next step only matters if you must fight for it, for the last fraction of ourselves. And taking it you see yourself, true and clear â€� not a warrior, not a hero, not a story of glory and wonderâ€� Just a lightning flash, a descent from Heaven to Earth, a step taken, bright and fleeting and then gone.”
― John French, Mortis

“He protects!â€� he shouted, and turned to look at the other troopers. ‘He protects,â€� called one, not loud but with enough strength to carry. Then another echoed the call, and then another, and it was loud now, voices calling out in released fear and rage and defiance. ‘He protects!â€� ‘He protects!â€� ‘He protects!â€� Katsuhiro nodded and looked at the dead angel whose grave would be the wasteland that he had bled his last on. ‘As we protect Him,â€� he said to himself.”
― John French, Mortis

“To us He gave His angelsâ€� The words ran in his head.”
― John French, Mortis

“Lord Baeron,â€� he said again, edging closer so that he was within touching distance of the Blood Angel. ‘You areâ€� you are wounded…â€� He heard the words fail as they came from his mouth. What was he trying to do? What was there to do at this moment?”
― John French, Mortis

“The angel had looked at him for a long moment, the eyepieces in his cracked helm an emerald glow in the dark. ‘It is the Death Lament of Baal,â€� he had said, at last. ‘The song of passing from the world.â€� ‘You are singing of your deaths because you know we will die here?â€� ‘To die is our purpose.”
― John French, Mortis

“Given the position, Mamzel Keeler, I would do what they suggest.â€� He gave a shrug. ‘Though it will mean that I miss our conversations.â€� They all looked as though they had just been punched. ‘I am an artist, and a pragmatist. I also like being alive in a universe that is not bound and slaved to the will of extra-dimensional thought-parasites who want to use existence as a playground. I am not an idealist, never have been. That was always the problem with your Emperor, He could never accept anything but the ideal â€� the one path, His path. And that’s the same for the rest of you who follow that path â€� you all think that if someone does not agree with you they would be happy to see everything burn as long as the Imperium, and its beloved Emperor, burns too. Well, I would rather that He becomes a false god than everything becomes slaved to real gods.â€� He shrugged again. ‘From a purely pragmatic view, you understand.”
― John French, Mortis

“If the Emperor is divine, how can He permit the suffering and disaster that is occurring?â€� said Andromeda. Sindermann nodded, his eyes on the books he had placed on the table, his gaze distant. ‘And He is divine â€� I have seen the truth. Philosophers of a different age would use the same question to undermine the concept of a higher power â€� there is suffering and darkness and so gods must be false. But gods are real, and there is suffering, so that must be because they permit itâ€� I have not lost my faith. I have found that I believe in a God-Emperor who is less than the divinity I wanted, but the only thing that is true.”
― John French, Mortis

“Know this, equerry,â€� said Perturabo. ‘I pity you. You see, and you know, and you fear for your Legion and wonder what the oaths you swore mean now. Yet you do not have the strength and the power to do the only thing that is left to do.â€� Argonis looked as though he might reply, but the Lord of Iron had turned to Forrix. ‘Send a signal to all of our forces, full withdrawal. Bring our fleet into dock and begin to embark. We will move to the system edge and translate. This is immediate.â€� Forrix did not move. The words he had just heard rang like bullets hitting iron. ‘Lord…â€� ‘It is over,â€� said Perturabo. ‘Horus has given this battle to sorcerers and beasts. The war of Legions is over. Mortarion comes here to take this place. He and what he has become is what this war is now. He comes at the will of Horus to be the agent of what will happen.â€� ‘But he did not order our withdrawal.â€� ‘I order it,â€� growled Perturabo. ‘It is my will. There is no victory here, just creatures and parasites pulling down a dying beast. It is gone. The Legion war is dead. The chance is gone. The cause is gone…â€� Perturabo paused, and then shook his head. ‘We will not bleed for this. We will not break the circle of our iron for this.”
― John French, Mortis

“…Corswain saw the daemon. How he had not before was not fathomable. There at the heart of the chamber, in the void between all the platforms and apparatus, burned a sun. It was golden, rayed, its light the light of a new day on gently rolling waves. He looked at it and felt the heaviness of his thoughts fall away. The burdens of will and command, of certain death and hopeless struggle, vanishing. He had never realised he was carrying so much, that he had borne the weight of existence on his shoulders. It was gone now. He was free. He was the master of his universe. From here, only what he desired and willed would exist.
â€� ”
― John French, Mortis: The Horus Heresy - Siege of Terra (The Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra 5)

“Now you see,â€� said Yesugei. ‘We are made to be greater than the humanity we serve. The weight of the blade is nothing to us. To ride and fight and bleed for days is nothing to us. Nothing to usâ€� We are made higher and so we lose that part that a child and an old man and a father looking into his child’s eyes knows â€� that the next step is not a promise. That to live is to fight. We forget that. We forget that life is weakness in the face of eternity. To take the next step only matters if you must fight for it, for the last fraction of ourselves. And taking it you see yourself, true and clear â€� not a warrior, not a hero, not a story of glory and wonderâ€� Just a lightning flash, a descent from Heaven to Earth, a step taken, bright and fleeting and then gone.”
― John French, Mortis

“The wheel turns. In the end we all return to what we are and to where we began.”
― John French, Mortis

“The truth is a weapon and a shield.â€�

- Primarch Sanguinius”
― John French, Mortis

“Poetry begins with the talking,â€� Yesugei had said. ‘And talking is the shadow of the spirit within.”
― John French, Mortis

“Here in the realm beyond sight, there is nothing that is not brought by those that come here. Once, long ago, but aldo a moment past and in a moment to come, this realm was void, without even the idea of dimensions or duration so that it could be called empty. Long ago... Long, long ago... Now it is the place filled with the refuse of its travellers: the husks of grand ambitions and dreams, the shadows of atrocity, and the secrets of the countless dead and the yet to be born. It is both a lie and the truest thing to ever be.”
― John French, Mortis