#we

Three rings for the Elven kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf lords in their halls of stone, Nine for the mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark lord on his throne, In the land of Mordor where shadows lie. One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, One ring to bring them all, And in the shadows bind them. In the land of Mordor where shadows lie. ↗

— JRR Tolkien

#lotr #rings-of-power #men

I am the Circle and the Circle is me ↗

— Patrick Ness

#monsters-of-men #the-ask-and-the-answer #the-knife-of-never-letting-go #men

But it doesn't take a thousand men to open a door, my lord." "It might to keep it open. ↗

— Ursula K. Le Guin

#diplomacy #fear #power #men

As for the men in power, they are so anxious to establish the myth of infallibility that they do their utmost to ignore truth. ↗

— Boris Pasternak

#men

A coward talks to everyone but YOU. ↗

— Shannon L. Alder

#insecure-women #paranoid-men #sisterinlaws #sisters #weak

The beauty of that June day was almost staggering. After the wet spring, everything that could turn green had outdone itself in greenness and everything that could even dream of blooming or blossoming was in bloom and blossom. The sunlight was a benediction. The breezes were so caressingly soft and intimate on the skin as to be embarrassing. ↗

— Dan Simmons

#beauty-in-nature #flowers #summer #sunlight #sunshine

But have you ever overheard two women discussing men? Men are crude liars, comparing their drabs, but women - I'd rather have [an] anatomist dissect me alive than to listen to the things the ladies say about us when they think they are alone. ↗

— Lois McMaster Bujold

#men

Really? And what curse befalls the Adams of the world?" Ann opens her mouth and, presumably thinking of nothing to say, closes it again. It is Felicity who answers, eyes steely. "They are weak to temptation. And we are their temptresses. ↗

— Libba Bray

#men #power #temptaion #women #men

Lynne looked as if she were really having fun, Elizabeth realized. With a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eye, Lynne Henry was actually almost pretty! ↗

— Francine Pascal

#shallow-appearances #sweet-valley #beauty

Stand here, he thought, and count the lighted windows of a city. You cannot do it. But behind each yellow rectangle that climbs, one over another, to the sky - under each bulb - down to there, see that spark over the river which is not a star? - there are people whom you will never see and who are your masters. At the supper tables, in the drawing rooms, in their beds and in their cellars, in their studies and in their bathrooms. Speeding in the subways under your feet. Crawling up in elevators through vertical cracks around you. Jolting past you in every bus. Your masters, Gail Wynand. There is a net - longer than the cables that coil through the walls of this city, larger than the mesh of pipes that carry water, gas and refuse - there is another hidden net around you; it is strapped to you, and the wires lead to every hand in the city. They jerked the wires and you moved. You were a ruler of men. You held a leash. A leash is only a rope with a noose at both ends. ↗

— Ayn Rand

#democracy #follower #leader #living #masses