* based on the nature of this post being pulled directly from the books themselves, there are spoilers!

I have always been a lover of words. However, I am not good with writing them for myself. So I look to others, authors and such, to help me find pieces of myself in their work. Not all of these quotes relate to me in some way. Some made me laugh, others made me cry. Some I just liked for the intricacy or word play.

Red Rising Quotes

“They would say the meek should inherit the earth. That the strong should nurture the gentle. This is the Noble Lie of Demokracy. The cancer that poisoned mankind.”

“Power must be claimed. Wealth won. Rule, dominion, empire purchased with blood.” 

“But it was in a smoke tavern when her rusty hair swirled and her feet moved with the zither and her hips to the drums that my heart forgot a couple of beats. It was not her flips or cartwheels. None of the boastful foolery that so marks the dance of the young. Her was a graceful, proud movement. Without me, she would not eat. Without her, I would not live.” – Darrow about Eo

“ ‘The Golds dance in pairs, Obsidians in threes, Grays in dozens,’ he told me. ‘We dance alone, because only alone do Helldivers drill. Only alone can a boy become a man.’” 

“Death isn’t empty like they say it is. Emptiness is life without freedom, Darrow. Emptiness is living chained by fear, fear of loss and of death. I say we break the chains that bind us to the Golds, to the Society. Could you imagine it? Mars could be ours. It could belong to the colonists who slaved here, died here.” – Eo to Darrow

“The toughest ant is yet but an ant.”

“Two Crows (Obsidians to be technic) float quietly behind him. Their skull helmets suit their Color. I was born to mine the earth. They were born to kill men. More than two feet taller than I. Eight fingers on each massive hand. They breed them for war, and watching them is like watching the coldblooded pitvipers who infest our minds. Reptiles both.”

“But never has Eo been more beautiful to me that in that moment. In the face of cold power, she is fire. This is the girl who danced through the smoke tav with a mane of red. This is the girl who wove me a wedding band of her own hair. This is the girl who chooses to die for the song of death.” 

“The love, my love 

Remember the cries

When winter died for spring skies

They roared and roared

But we grabbed our seed

And sowed a song

Against their greed.

And

Down in the vale

Hear the reaper swing, the reaper swing

The reaper swing

Down in the vale

Hear the reaper sing

A tale of winter done.

My son, my son

Remember the chains

When gold ruled with iron reigns

We roared and roared

And twisted and screamed

For ours, a vale

of better dreams.”

– The Forbidden Song

“On Mars there is not much gravity, so you have to pull the feet to break the neck. They let the loved ones do it.”

“My people sing, we dance, we live. That it our strength. But we also dig. Anf then we die. Seldom do we get to choose why. That choice is power. The choice has been our only weapon. But it is not enough.”

“We have a passcode. No brains in slaves. Mine Tinpots are idiots. It’s the Grey elites, or the Obsidian monsters you watch out for. But they don’t waste their time down here.”

“And those Obsidians are only the elite. The Gray soldiers prowl the cities ensuring order, ensuring obedience to the hierarchy. The Whites arbitrate their justice and push their philosophy. Pinks pleasure and serve in highColor homes. Silvers count and manipulate currency and logistics. Yellows study the medicines and sciences. Greens develop technology. Blues naviaget the stars. Coppers run the beauracracy. Every color has a purpose. Every color props up the Golds.”

“Say we make his body perfect, there’s still one problem: we cannot make him smarter. Once cannot make a mouse a lion.”

“You have made me give up the hair Father gave me, the eyes Mother left me, the Color I was born to, so I will keep the name they granted me, and you can make it work.”

“Matyrs, you see, are like bees. Their only power comes in death.”

“ ‘If you are thrown into the deep and do not swim, you will drown,’ he says, and raises his thin eyebrows. ‘So keep swimming, right?’” – Roque to Darrow

“Sevro snorts. ‘What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time, you silky turd? Wanking off in the bushes?’ Cassius and I look at each other. ,’Kind of,’ I say. ‘Yeah, actually,’ Cassius agrees.”

“It all makes sense. The hate. The disgust. The vengeance. Cannibals eat their own. He called them cannibals. Pollux, Cassandra, Vixus – who are their own? Their own. Golden. Bloodydamn.Not gory. Titus said bloodydamn. No Gold says that. Ever. And he called it a slingBlade, not a reaper’s scythe. Oh hell. Titus is a Red.”

“ ‘The measure of a man is what he does when he has power.’ She laughs. ‘You mock him for Cicero and then spit out Plato.’”

“ ‘You haven’t been sleeping well,’ she says. ‘When do I ever?’ ‘When you sleep next to me. You cried out the first week in the woods. After that, you slept like a baby.’ ‘Is this you inviting me back?’ I ask. ‘I never told you to leave.’ She waits. ‘So why did you?’ ‘You distract me,’ I say.” – exchange between Mustang (Virginia) and Darrow

“Now the girl who sang Eo’s song by the fire. The girl who pulled me from the mud. The girl who curled beside me as the smoke swirled in our little cave. Brilliant Mustang, who would follow me out of choice.”

Golden Son Quotes

“Now I am their sword. And I do not forgive. I do not forget. So let him lead me onto his shuttle. Let him think he owns me. Let him welcome me into his house, so I might burn it down. But then his daughter takes my hand, and I feel all the lies fall heavy on my shoulders. They say a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. They made no mention of the heart.”

“Live fast. Die young. While you’re a boring old raison, I’ll be a glorious memory of finer times and decadent days.”

“I am not glamorous. I do not inspire. You are like one of the Old Conquerors. Charismatic and virtuous. When they look at you, they see none of the soft decadence of our meager time, none of the political poison that has saturated Luna since Lune’s family rose to power. They will look at you and see a cleansing knife, a new dawn for a Second Golden Age.”

“ ‘Home isn’t where you’re from, it’s where you find light when all grows dark.’ He grasps the top of my hand. ‘Find your home, Darrow. It may not be in the past. But find it, and you’ll never be lost again.’”

“In a world of killers, it takes more to be kind than to be wicked. But men like you and me, we’re just passing time before death reaches down for us.”

“If Eo smelled of rust and soil, then the Golden girl is fire and autumn leaves.”

“She deserved to live. If any of us ugly little shiteaters deserve it, it was her. There wasn’t a cruel bone in her body. Not one. But it didn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if we’re good or we’re evil. It’s all up to chance.”

“Darrow. Contrary to popular rumor, I don’t eat glass. I love music, dancing, and I’m very fond of fresh fruit. particularly strawberries.”

“If you’re a fox, play the hare.”

“I’m Gold, bitch. What’d you expect? Warm milk and cookies just because I’m pocket sized.”

“Love and war. Same coin. Different sides.”

“He’s got one hand. You’ve got one eye. I have a type.”

“I like this life. No matter my reluctant to play the Gold, no matter the sorrowful excuses I make, part of me is like them. Perhaps I was born to be of two Colors.”

Morning Star Quotes

“You must decide what you are in the end, Darrow. Will you come out like a man? Or must we dig you out like a rat in a cave?”

“Tidings! It’s Uncle Sevro and the Moderately Friendly Giant.”

“ “What about presents?’ one of my nephews asks. ‘Didn’t you bring any?’ ‘I’ve got a present for you…’ Sevro says. ‘Sevro, no!’ Dio and my mother shout. ‘What?’ He pulls out a bag. ‘It’s just candy this time.’”

“Get some man-killing meat on your bones. No more of this anorexic scarecrow shit.”

“Phobos means fear. In myth, he was the offspring of Aphrodite and Ares, the child of love and war.”

“If your heart beats like a drum, and you leg’s a little wet, it’s because the Reaper’s coming to collect a little debt.”

“But my uncle told me that it’s women who see us better than we see ourselves. That’s why you love Victra. That’s why you fight with her. And that’s why you deserve this.”

“In the absence of sun, there can only be darkness.”

“I see them in my son, and when he is old enough, I will take him on my knee and his mother and I will tell him of the rage of Ares, the strength of Ragnar, the honor of Cassius, the love of Sevro, the loyalty of Victra, and the dream of Eo, the girl who inspired me to live for more.”