Quotes

Each short story in the Course Books begins with a quote. This is that:

The Path to Ascension

1. The Wings of a Dragon: “It is said that the best and fastest way to deal with someone who is suicidal is to start actively trying to kill them. Self-preservation is a tough habit to kick, and like any addiction the withdrawal symptoms can be deadly if not treated properly. It is one thing to take a cowardly jump off a cliff and end it all. In that situation you have total control of where and, more or less, when you are going to die. But in a situation where you are being attacked or chased, that basic fight-or-flight survival instinct kicks in, and forces the would-be statistic to re-think their decision and, more often than not, realize they really do want to live.”
2. Through the Night: “We live, we die, we fight. Life is a journey, the destination is what you make of yours.”
3. Disarming: “No, cut the red wire!”
4. Wildfire Emerges: “Like a storm of swords, fire shall rain down upon my enemies.”
5. Ulysses Last Stand: “Stand like a stone wall; never give up, never surrender. Show your enemies what it means to be Gung Ho.”
6. The Sun Also Rises: “As the sun sets, it also rises.”
7. Virus: “There’s lots of time like the present.”
8. The Truth Finally Revealed: “Truth is the most powerful weapon known to man. It’s so powerful that it has been outlawed, kept out of the public’s hands. It’s time to take it back.”
9. Clouds Last Run: “De opresso Letum, to free from death.”
10. Last Stand, Tora, Tora, Tora: “With good aim and careful re-loading, one man with a shotgun can do the work of many.” - Mathew Seaman
11. The Slayer Dragons: “Speed and fire are always a deadly combination.”
12. Return of the Dragon: “Looking back, I’d have to say my only regret was not running faster.”
13. The Dark Lord Nimi: “Destiny, fate, chance, they’re all just excuses people use for taking credit for their victories, and not their failures. It’s the things we do that make us who we are.”
14. The Reunion of the Eighth Power: “One soldier isn’t good enough, eight soldiers aren’t good enough. An army of one dies alone. To deserve victory, we must combine so that each soldier has the power of eight. We will be eight together, to the Eighth Power.”
15. Revival: “As a phoenix rises from the ashes of defeat, so too shall you rise to victory.”
16. The Red Tiger: “The strength of a tiger is like a locomotive. Its flesh is as armor plates, its sinews are steel springs. Truly, this is power to be respected.”
17. The New Recruit: “I have a theory about why you lost the fight…”
18. The Path to Ascension(Story): “Heaven to Ocean, Ocean to Earth, Earth back to Heaven.”

The Road to War

1. The Eye of a Dragon: “Hope is a waking dream.” – Aristotle
2. Tale of a Gun: “Know, think, choose, do.” - Orson Scott Card
3. First Stand: “It is difficult to fight against anger, for a man will buy vengeance with his soul.” – Heraclitus, 500 B.C.
4. Counter Strike: “Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked up by jet engines.” – John Benfield
5. Flight of the Takahe: “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” - Lord Kelvin, 1892
6. Against the Wind: “If at first you don’t succeed, you obviously haven’t used enough ducttape.”
7. Dragoon Lancers: Wrath of the Lancer's Light: “If we should not live to see another sunrise, let them say this over the pyre: they died as Dragoon Lancers, their faces to the fire.” – Dragoon Lancer’s Creed
8. CTRL+Z: “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do yesterday.” – Anonymous
9. Flash Point: “Fire in the hole.” – Anonymous EOD officer
10. Retrospectus: “Hindsight is 20/20, but foresight is full of clichés.”
11. Line in the Sand: “Sometimes it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
12. Point of the Spear: “I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
13. Marigold: “So when your back’s up against the wall and theirs no tomorrow, just take one day at a time and remember: the bigger they are, etc.” – Jack O’Neil
14. Falling Dragon: “Raid ye not the dragon’s lair, for ye are juicy, and taste good with ketchup.”
15. The Road to War(Story): “Do not go quietly into the night. Do not disappear without a fight. Rage, rage against the dying of the Light.” - Dylan Thomas

The Concourse to Victory

1. The Breath of a Dragon: “A weak man has doubts before a decision, a strong man has them afterwards.” – Karl Kraus
2. First Impressions: “The only thing that lasts longer than a friend's love is the stupidity that keeps us from knowing any better.” – Randy K. Milholland
3. Beachhead: “All right, let’s go get ‘em.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
4. Flying Lessons: “The best cure for frustration is silence.” – Emily Pode
5. The Liger, the Sorceress, and… the Refrigerator?: “There are some problems violence can’t solve. For everything else, there’s Gudersnipe.” – Gudersnipe Foundation Slogan.
6. Falling Sky: “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” – Chicken Little.
7. Sunset: “It’s always darkest just before it goes pitch-black.” – Despair, Inc.
8. Clause: “If you strap enough thrust onto a brick, it will soar like an eagle. If you strap enough thrust onto an eagle, it will soar like Daemon Wing.” – Hunter Jusenkyou
9. Catastrophe: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” - Napoleon Bonaparte
10. Fan Fiction: “He was able to afford the luxury of madness, like a man who not only thinks he is Napoleon but hires an army to prove it.” – Ted Morgan
11. Daylight: “The sufferings that fate inflicts on us should be borne with patience, what enemies inflict with courage.” – Thucydides
12. Forbidden: “It’s basic logic, it wouldn’t be ‘forbidden’ unless there was something totally awesome inside!” – Hunter Jusenkyou
13. Dusk: “Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.” – Andre Gide
14. Forgotten: “If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.” – Bill Lyon
15. The Tiger's Eye: “Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” – Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
16. Cavalry: “People always call it luck when you've acted more sensibly than they have.” – Anne Tyler.
17. Absolution: “War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory.” - Georges Clemenceau
18. The Concourse to Victory(Story): “Defeated warriors go to war and try to win; victorious warriors win first and then go to war; personally, I just blow things up.” – Hunter Jusenkyou, The Science of War.