Matthew Stover Quotes

“"Depa is right: Jedi are insane." "Ever since I came to this planet, people have been telling me how crazy I am. They've told me this so many times that I had started to wonder if it might be true. Now, though, I understand: you don't say this because it's true. Not even because you think it's true. You say it because you hope it's true. Because if I am insane, you aren't really the revolting slime-hearted vermin that, down deep, you know you are."”

Mace Windu, p. 251
Shatterpoint (2004)
Context: It dawned on me then that Nick was proud of himself. Proud of what we had done. It may have been an unfamiliar feeling for him: that peculiarly delicious pride that comes from having taken a terrible risk to do something truly admirable. Of overcoming the instinct of self-presrvation: of fighting our fears and winning. It is the pride of discovering that one is not merely a bundle of reflexes and conditioned responses; that instead one is a thinking being, who can choose the right over the easy, and justice over safety.

“The prize of individualism--its goal--is self-actualization, which is only another name for vanity. We do not admire men for achieving self-actualization; we admire self-actualization when its end result is a boon to humanity.”

Kar Vastor and Mace Windu, p. 286
Shatterpoint (2004)

Matthew Stover Quotes

“Without destiny to guide him, he was lost in a vast, whistling darkness. Any direction he might choose was purely abitary; it would make no more sense, offer no more hope, than would sitting still.”

(I.3) Del Rey, p. 75
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)
Context: "I respect what is repectable," Tan'elkoth replied. "To ask for respect where none has been earned is childish maundering. And what is repectable, in the end, save service? Even your idol Jefferson is, in the end, measured by how well he served the species. The prize of individualism--its goal--is self-actualization, which is only another name for vanity. We do not admire men for achieving self-actualization; we admire self-actualization when its end result is a boon to humanity."

(XII.7) Del Rey, p. 426
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)
Context: He had no idea what he should do now. Without destiny to guide him, he was lost in a vast, whistling darkness. Any direction he might choose was purely abitary; it would make no more sense, offer no more hope, than would sitting still. Which offered neither sense nor hope at all.

“We can each sit and wait to die, from the very day of our births. Those of us who do not do so, choose to ask--and to answer--the two questions that define every conscious creature: What do I want? and What will I do to get it? Which are, finally, only one question: What is my will? Caine teaches us that the answer is always found within our own experience; our lives provide the structure of the question, and a properly phrased question contains its own answer.”

For a mornachist, history is a struggle of classes of economic civil war. An agriculturalist sees the dynamic of populations, land, and availability of food; a philosopher might speak of the will to power or the will to sythesis; a theologian of the will of God.
(II.2) Del Rey, p. 100
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)

“"I think that you are a very brilliant man. I think that you have more courage than you have ever guessed. I think that you truly care about this city, and the people in it. I think your cynicism is a fraud." "What-what-really, this is astonishing-" "I think that if you were truly as corrupt and venal as you pretend, you would be in the Senate."”

(XIV.3) Del Rey, p. 472
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)

“The man did not move because only immobility could hurt more than motion: the man held himself still because to move might lessen his suffering, and that he could not bear. For him only pain had meaning.”

Mace Windu and Colonel Lorz Geptun
Shatterpoint (2004)

“The feeling he'd had, that he was about to get himself killed, swelled into an overwhelming premonition of doom. Ganner's knees went weak, and a very large part of him wanted to bolt down the corridor and get away-but though he hadn't been much of a hero, the one virtue he'd never had to fake was courage.”

(XII.1) Del Rey, p. 408
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)

“Our enemy is power mistaken for justice. Our enemy is the desperation that justifies atrocity. The Jedi's true enemy is the jungle.”

Ganner Rhysode, p. 215
Traitor (2002)

“Jedi are supposed to stand for something, aren't you? You're supposed to stand up for what's right. No matter what.”

Mace Windu, p. 410
Shatterpoint (2004)

“Can't trust a fascist--truth is always your first sacrifice to the welfare of the state”

Nick Rostu, p. 251
Shatterpoint (2004)

“The first thing they did was pick up survivors. Because we are equipment, too. As long as the Republic takes care of us, we'll take care of it.”

(I.3) Del Rey, p. 74
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)

“I gave them the word of a Jedi Master that if they surrendered I would keep them from harm. I will not be made a liar.”

CT6/774, p. 411
Shatterpoint (2004)

“"But… but… you can't fight the way things are…" "But we do. Every day. That's what Jedi are." "You can never win-" "We don't have to win. We only have to fight."”

Mace Windu, p. 202
Shatterpoint (2004)

“The problem with happy endings," Tan'elkoth said, "is that nothing is ever truly over.”

Depa Billipa and Mace Windu, p. 313
Shatterpoint (2004)

“Mace flipped up a thumb. "You think being armed and ruthless means you can do whatever you want." He folded his thumb and flipped up his forefinger. "You think nobody will stand up to you when they're naked." He folded that one again and flipped up the next. "And you think you're going to look inside my bag."”

(I.3) Del Rey, p. 89
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)

“All true stories end in death.”

Mace Windu to corrupt customs guards, p. 40
Shatterpoint (2004)

“I read once, somewhere, that the way you know you've grown up is when your future death becomes a stone in your shoe: when you feel it with every step.”

(X.6) Del Rey, p. 380
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)

“This is the most valuable lesson one can teach a fanatic: that fanaticism is self-defeating.”

(0.8) Del Rey, p. 23
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)

“He did understand. Finally, fatally, he did. He had thought he was the master of history, that his fractal world-tree had grown according to his will. He had allowed himself to be deceived.”

Vergere, p. 291
Traitor (2002)

“When all choices seem wrong, choose restraint.”

(XI.6) Del Rey, p. 404
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)

“Mace stared at the man as though he'd never seen him before. And he hadn't: only now, finally, was he seeing him. An undistinguished little man: soft face and uncertain voice, shaky hands and allergies: an undistinguished little man who must have had resources of toughness that Mace could barely imagine.”

Mace Windu, p. 176
Shatterpoint (2004)

“Here was the weapon of a hero. A real hero. Not a playactor. Not a pretend-hero, like Ganner had always been. But this weapon was now in Ganner's hand.”

Mace Windu, p. 17
Shatterpoint (2004)

“"They lit us up! Missiles incoming! Six count, closing, dead astern!" "Back-trace the missile lock and feed it to the computer for counter-fire." "Great idea! I'll get right on that first thing as soon as I graduate from gunnery school!"”

Ganner Rhysode, p. 261
Traitor (2002)

“"You're in the jungle, now. There are no rules." "Of course there are. Don't be an idiot."”

Nick Rostu and Mace Windu, p. 330
Shatterpoint (2004)

“Do you solemnly swear to serve the Republic in thought, in word, and in deed; to defend its citizens, resist its enemies, and champion its justice with the whole of your heart, your strength, and your mind; to foreswear all other allegiances; to obey all lawful orders of your superior officers; to uphold the highest ideals of the Republic, and at all times to conduct yourself to the credit of the Republic as its commissioned officer, by witness of, aid from, and faith in the force?”

Nick Rostu and Mace windu on Jungle Rules, p. 206
Shatterpoint (2004)

“His destiny had betrayed him, had made him a destroyer on a scale that humbled even Caine. Destiny, he understood with bitter certainty, could not be trusted.”

Mace Windu's Oath of Office, p. 213
Shatterpoint (2004)

“Maybe. A powerful. Enough. Metaphor. Grows. Its own. Truth.”

Blade of Tyshalle (2001)

“He was moderately sure that a thirteen-year-old boy who'd load up four other children and set out in a steamcrawler across the Korunnai Highland at night-a boy who'd rather die than leave an unconscious girl behind-had guts enough for just about anything.”

(VIII.4) Del Rey, p. 284
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)
Variant: Maybe. A powerful. Enough. Metaphor. Grows. Its own. Truth.

“We always volunteer, sir. All of us. It's who we are.”

Mace Windu, p. 146
Shatterpoint (2004)

“You can kill me, but you can't make me obey.”

CRC-09/571, p. 355
Shatterpoint (2004)

“"I guess heroes feel like they've accomplished something." "And you haven't? Several thousand slaves might disagree."”

Jacen Solo, p. 65
Traitor (2002)

“If no mistake you have made, yet losing you are… a different game you should play.”

Jacen Sollo and Vergere, p. 121
Traitor (2002)

“I don't have to be a hero, he thought in silent wonder. All I have to do is pretend.”

Yoda, p. 150
Shatterpoint (2004)

Ganner Rhysode, p. 261
Traitor (2002)

“Only human, after all.”

“I think that you are a very brilliant man. I think that you have more courage than you have ever guessed. I think that you truly care about this city, and the people in it. I think your cynicism is a fraud.”

(XII.4) Del Rey, p. 417
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)

“Depa is right: Jedi are insane.”

<br/k> "What-what-really, this is astonishing-" <br/k> "I think that if you were truly as corrupt and venal as you pretend, you would be in the Senate."
Mace Windu and Colonel Lorz Geptun
Shatterpoint (2004)

“The capacity for personal freedom is a rare talent. Talent exists to be used.”

<br/k> "Ever since I came to this planet, people have been telling me how crazy I am. They've told me this so many times that I had started to wonder if it might be true. Now, though, I understand: you don't say this because it's true. Not even because you think it's true. You say it because you hope it's true. Because if I am insane, you aren't really the revolting slime-hearted vermin that, down deep, you know you are."
Kar Vastor and Mace Windu, p. 286
Shatterpoint (2004)

“I respect what is repectable," Tan'elkoth replied. "To ask for respect where none has been earned is childish maundering.And what is repectable, in the end, save service? Even your idol Jefferson is, in the end, measured by how well he served the species. The prize of individualism--its goal--is self-actualization, which is only another name for vanity. We do not admire men for achieving self-actualization; we admire self-actualization when its end result is a boon to humanity.”

We do not ask sheep to be wolves; we, the wolves, do not ask ourselves to be sheep. Sheep can make such rules as happen to suit them--but it's foolishly naive to expect wolves to obey."
Blade of Tyshalle (2001)