Nearing the end of 2017, I started rereading Salvatore's novels on Drizzt Do'Urden, the famous drow (dark elf) in Forgotten Realms.
Thus far, I am done with The Legend of Drizzt series (13 books) plus The Legend of Drizzt Anthology: The Collected Stories (1 book), The Sellswords trilogy (3 books), The Hunter's Blade trilogy (3 books), the Transitions trilogy (3 books), and I am on the last book of the Neverwinter saga (4 books).
After I completed the Neverwinter saga, I will finally move on to The Sundering series and The Companions Codex series, which are books that I have bought but not read. Then I will get my hands on the Homecoming series.
Anyway, I noted down sentences and paragraphs that are meaningful to me, and this entry is for sharing these quotes.
On friendship and sharing, empathy and relationship:
"Joy multiplies when it is shared among friends, but grief diminishes with every division. That is life."
"What are we without empathy? What manner of joy might we find in our lives if we cannot understand the joys and pains of those around us, if we cannot share in a greater community?"
"Honest love requires empathy. It is a sharing - of joy, of pain, of laughter, and of tears. Honest love makes one's soul a reflection of the partner's moods."
"Without empathy he will find no purpose. Without purpose, he will find no satisfaction. Without satisfaction, he will find no contentment, and without contentment, he will find no joy."
"For respect is the guiding principle of friendship, the lighthouse beacon that directs the course of any true friendship. And respect demands trust."
I am not a religious person and I believe more on principles and moral, so these resonate with me:
"I was not so quick to embrace the concept of any god, of any being that could so dictate, codes of behaviour and precepts of an entire society. Is morality not an internal force, and if it is, are principles then to be dictated or felt?"
"In the end, to a preacher's ultimate sorrow, the choice of a god is a personal one, and the alignment to a being is in accord with one's internal code of principles. A missionary might coerce and trick would-be disciples, but no rational being can truly follow the determined orders of any god-figure if those orders run contrary to his own tenets."
"Most self-imposed burdens are founded on misperceptions. We, at least we of sincere character, always judge ourselves by stricter standards than we expect others to abide by."
"Do we behave out of fear of punishment, or out of the demands of our heart? For me, it is the latter, as I would hope is true for all adults, though I know from bitter experience that such is not often the case."
"The is no greater shackle than self-deception. A man who denies his heart, either through fear or personal consequence - whether regarding physical jeopardy, or self-doubt, or simply of being ostracized - is not free. To go against your values and tenets, against that which you know is right and true, creates a prison stronger than adamantite bars and thick stone walls. Every instance of putting expediency above the cries of conscience throws another heavy chain out behind, an anchor to drag forevermore."
On equality in opportunity but let achievement be individual, as in everyone has the same chance to do something, no prejudice, no preference, but how well you do it and how far you can go depends on your effort:
"Opportunity should be equal, must be equal, but achievement must remain individual."
On living a full, meaningful life; and appreciation of things in life:
"I cannot control the truth of death, whatever my desperation. I can only make certain that those moments of my life I have remaining are as rich as they can be."
"We need to be reminded sometimes that a sunrise lasts but a few minutes. But its beauty can burn in our hearts eternally."
"While I often find myself a victim of the expectations of others, they cannot define me, limit me, or control me as long as I understand that there is no racial truth, that their perceptions of who I must be are irrelevant to the truth of who I am."
"I am not a king. Not in temperament, nor by desire, nor heritage, nor popular demand. I am a small player in the events of a small region in a large world. When my day is past, I will be remembered, I hope, by those whose lives I've touched. When my day is past, I will be remembered, I hope, fondly."
"One of the most common truths of life is that we all take for granted things that simply are. Whether a spouse, a friend, a family, or a home, after enough time has passed, that person, place, or situation becomes the accepted norm of our lives. It is not until we confront the unexpected, not until the normal is no more, that we truly come to appreciate what once we had."
On change:
"Change is the unrolled die, the unused sava piece. It is exciting and frightening only when we hold some power over it, only when there is a potential reversal of course, difficult though it may be, within our control. Absent that safety line of real choice, absent that sense of some control, change is merely frightening. Terrifying, even."
"While change is not always growth, growth is always rooted in change."
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