Quotes by Terry Goodkind

“The first step to believing something is true is wanting to believe it is true....or being afraid it is.”

“The mice think they are right, but my cat eats them anyways. This is the point, reality is nothing, perception is everything.”

“Knowledge is a weapon. I intend to be formidably armed.”

“Never let a beautiful woman pick your path for you when there is a man in her line of sight.”

“No one ever goes into battle thinking God is on the other side”

“The first law of reason is what exists, exists;what is, is; and from this irreducible bedrock principleall knowledge is build. He said that was the foundation from which life is embraced. He said thinking is a choice, and that wishes and whims are not facts, nor are they means to discover them. Richard said reason is our only way of grasping reality - that its our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking - to reject reason - but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss we refuse to see.”

“People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe its true, or because they are afraid it might be true. Peoples heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool.”

“Every persons life is theirs by right. An individuals life can and must only belong to himself, no to any society or community, or he is then but a slave. No one can deny another person their right to their life, nor seize by force what is produced by someone else, because that is stealing their means to sustain their life. It is treason against mankind to hold a knife to a mans throat and dictate how he must live his life. No society is more important than the individuals who compose it, or else you ascribe supreme importance, not to man, but to any notion that strikes the fantasy of that society at a never ending cost of lives. Reason and reality are the only means to just laws; mindles wishes, if given sovereignty, become deadly masters.”

“The mark of a wise person is being able to reach beyond the truth, to admit they can learn more than they already know. A wise person doesnt string together the beads of unrelated events into a necklace simply to have something they wish to see. A wise person sees the truth even if it is something unexpected. That is the most beautiful necklace to wear - the truth.”

“If God is so powerful, can he create a rock which he cannot lift?”

“Your life is yours and yours alone. Rise up and live it.”

“No matter how exotic human civilization becomes, no matter the developments of life and society nor the complexity of the machine/human interface, there always comes interludes of lonely power when the course of humankind, the very future of humankind, depends upon the relatively simple actions of single individuals.”

“The second rule is that the greatest harm can result from the best intentions. It sounds a paradox but kindness and good intentions can be an insidious path to destruction. Sometimes doing what seems right is wrong and can cause harm.”

“Good government never depends upon laws, but upon the personal qualities of those who govern. The machinery of government is always subordinate to the will of those who administer that machinery. The most important element of government, therefore, is the method of choosing leaders.”

“This is the fallacy of power: ultimately it is effective only in an absolute, a limited universe. But the basic lesson of our relativistic universe is that things change. Any power must always meet a greater power.”

I am who I am; no more, no less.

We all can be only who we are, no more, no less.

To exist in this vast universe for a speck of time is the great gift of life. Our tiny sliver of time is our gift of life. It is our only life. The universe will go on, indifferent to our brief existence, but while we are here we touch not just part of that vastness, but also the lives around us. Life is the gift each of us has been given. Each life is our own and no one elses. It is precious beyond all counting. It is the greatest value we can have. Cherish it for what it truly is..... Your life is yours alone. Rise up and live it.

If the road is easy, youre likely going the wrong way.

Knowledge is a destination. Truth, the journey.