Fanatics can justify practically any atrocity to themselves. The more untenable their position becomes, the harder they hold to it, and the worse the things they are willing to do to support it.
Mercedes LackeyIt's just as easy to be lonely in a city as out in the wilderness. Easier, really. It's harder to get to know someone when you meet in a crowded place. People can freely ignore you in the city; they can assume they don't have any responsibility for you. When there are fewer people, (...) they begin assuming some kind of responsibility, simply because you naturally do the same.
Mercedes LackeyIf there are going to be people out there making war on other people, don't you think it's a good idea for some of those people to at least follow a code of ethics? Not 'honor' but something you can pin down and be sure of, something with the same rules for everybody.
Mercedes LackeyThereโs no such thing as `one, true wayโ; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good โ theyโre the things worth living and dying for, and if you arenโt willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race.
Mercedes LackeyThe great love is gone. There are still little loves - friend to friend, brother to sister, student to teacher. Will you deny yourself comfort at the hearthfire of a cottage because you may no longer sit by the fireplace of a palace? Will you deny yourself to those who reach out to you in hopes of warming themselves at your hearthfire?
Mercedes Lackey