Symptoms...

'We should be sharing what we know with Lee, not Washington...' I said irritably as we walked.
'You seem to think I favour him,' replied Connor. His guard was down and his black hair shone in the sun. Here, away from the city, it was as if his native side had bloomed. 'But my enemy is a notion, not a nation. It is wrong to compel obedience - whether to the British Crown or the Templar cross. And I hope in time that the loyalists will see this too, for they are also victims.'
I shook my head. 'You oppose tyranny. Injustice. But these are symptoms, son. Their true cause is human weakness. Why do yo think I keep trying to show you the error of your ways?' (pag. 449)

(Haytham Kenway & Connor)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Forsaken")

Inspire...

I gave a dry laugh. 'Indeed, Reginald. Indeed you are. What you did is a corruption of everything I believe, and do you know why? You did it not with the application of our ideals but with deceit. How can we inspire belief when what we have in our hearts is lies?'
He shook his head disgustedly. 'Oh,come on, that's naive rubbish. I'd have expected it of you as a young Adept, but now? During a war, you do what you can to secure victory. It's what you do with that victory that counts.'
'No. We must practice what we preach. Otherwise, our words are hollow.' (pag. 364)

(Haytham Kenway & Reginald Birch)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Forsaken")

Abel, palidul băiat, cuvântă:

Eu nu sunt. Mi-ai făcut ceva - dar ce? -

fratele meu. În ochii-mi nu mai e

lumină: mi-a perdeluit-o el;

în timp ce fața mea, tot el

cu-a lui a-nlocuit-o. - Cel

ce-mi era frate,-acum e singur. E

în viață, pe cât cred, - căci nu-i

va fi făcut, pesemne, nimeni lui

ce mi-a făcut el mie. - Nu e ins

să nu fi mers pe drumul meu, împins

din urmă de mândria lui, - și-nvins.

Bănui că fratele-mi mai mare m-a pândit

ca juzii unei Curți fără apel.

La mine noaptea s-a gândit;

nu și la el.

II

Tu, negură, mai neagră decât mina,

mai dragă-mi ești decât lumina

ce face-n jurul strâmtei noastre lumi

un cerc, -

dincolo de raza căruia, restrânsă,

eu, unul, nu încerc

să știu ce e, nici nu-mi

stă în putere...

Întunericului, însă,-i

e dat, ca pe-un ostatic, să țină totu,-n sine,

flacără, fiară, grâne coapte,

ape -

și pe mine.

Se pare, după unele vagi șoapte,

că o putere mare sălășluie pe-aproape.

Eu, unul, cred în noapte.

(Rainer Maria Rilke)

Ultimul

Rainer Maria Rilke

N-am casă părintească, nici

nu știu să fi avut vreodată parte

de una; maică-mea, departe,

în lumea largă m-a născut, iar nu aici.

Acum mă aflu-n lumea cea pe care

o adâncesc, hoinar din zare-n zare,

când bucuros, și când

mâhnit, - pe rând.

Mi-a lăstărit sămânța în trei dăți

în codru-n care,șapte-aveam castele,

herbul meu, însă,-i spart, azi, în bucăți,

iar timpu-a șters și ce-a fost scris pe ele, -

dându-mi să port, în schimb, la gât, brățară

pe care se citește: făr' de țară.

Mi-e dat s-o port mereu, pe lumea asta, 

căci orice lucru am și năzui a-l

păstra, - piere ca orice-așezi pe creasta

unui val.

The power of words...

I looked around. It's quite something, really watching a place that's finally found its feet.'
'Feet awash in the blood of others, I'm afraid.'
'Ah, that's a story old as time itself, and one that is not likely to change. We're cruel and desperate creatures, set in our conquering ways. The Saxons and the Franks. The Ottomans and Safavids. I could go on for hours. The whole human history is but a series of subjugations.'
'I pray one day we rise above it,' replied Charles earnestly.
'While you pray, I'll act. We'll see who finds success first, hmm?'
'It was an expression,'he said with a wounded edge to his voice.
'Aye. And a dangerous one. Words have power. Wield them wisely.' (pag. 215)

(Haytham Kenway & Charles Lee)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Forsaken")

Goodbye Letter

When I was a young man, I had liberty,but did not see it; I had time, but did not know it; and I had love, but I did not feel it. Many decades would pass before I understood the meaning of all three. And now, in the twilight of my life, this understanding has passed into contentment. Love, liberty and time, once so much at my disposal, are the fuels that drive me forward. Love, most especially, my dearest, for you, our children, our brothers and sisters... and for the vast and wonderful world that gave us life and keeps us guessing. With endless affection, my Sofia, I am forever yours.

Ezio Auditore

(pag. 502)


(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Revelations")

Hiding in plain sight...

Father used to say,'To see differently, we must think differently,'and it sounds stupid, and you might laugh, or I might look back on this in years to come and laugh myself, but at times it felt as though I could feel my brain actually expand to look at the world in Father's way. He had a way of looking at the world that nobody else had, so it seemed; a way of looking at the world that challenged the very idea of truth.
Of course, I questioned Old Mr Fayling. I challenged him one day, during Scriptures, and earned myself a whack across the knuckles with his cane, along with the promise that he would be informing my father, which he did. Later, Father took me into his study and, after closing the door, grinned and tapped the side of his nose, 'It's often best, Haytham, to keep your thoughts to yourself. Hide in plain sight.' (pag. 34)

(Haytham Kenway & Edward Kenway)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Forsaken")

Disease

”More than anything they feared disease. I suppose because you cannot reason with disease; you can't bribe it or take arms against it, and it respects neither wealth nor standing. It is an implacable foe.
And of course it attacks without warning.” (pag. 6)

(Haytham Kenway)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Forsaken")

Life...books

She looked at him.'These last few months - almost a year now - I have learned that there is life outside books.'
'All life is outside books.'
'Spoken like a true scholar!'
'Life enters books. It isn't the other way round.' (pag. 454)

(Sofia Sartor&Ezio Auditore)


(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Revelations")

Keeping the balance...

"Mark this and remember. It is never your choice to give up the fight for justice. Even when it seems that it can never be won, that all hope is lost, the fight, the fight ensures the survival of justice, the survival of the world. You live balanced on the edge of a cliff, you cannot help that. Your job is to ensure that the balance never tips too far to the wrong side. And there is one more thing you can do which will make certain that it never does: you can love." (pag. 446)

(Tinia)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Revelations")

Truth

'That is just further evidence of his decline!To take up arms against his own son? It's shameful.'
'Do not bend the truth to match the contours of your passion, efendim,'the fourth man rebuked him.'It was Selim, after all, who attacked our Sultan first.' (pag. 286-287)

(Talk among Janissaries)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Revelations")

Pieces of genius (14)

”Nu era azi, nici mâine, nici ieri, nici todeauna,
Căci unul erau toate si totul era una.”

(Mihai Eminescu - ”Rugăciunea unui dac”)

Dacă iubești fără să speri

Mihai Eminescu

Dacă iubești fără să speri

De-ai fi iubit vreodată,

Se-ntunecă de lungi păreri

De rău viața toată.

Și-ți lasă-n suflet un amar

Și în gândiri asemeni,

Căci o iubire în zadar

Cu moartea-i sor' de gemeni.

Dar vindecarea la dureri

În piept, în partea stângă-i,

De-acolo trebuie să ceri

Cuvinte să te mângăi.

Acolo afli adăpost

Oricâte se întâmple.

Că și-un amor care-ar fi fost,

Viața ta o împle.

Căci un luceafăr răsărit

Din liniștea uitării

Dă orizon nemărginit

Singurătății mării.

Și ochiul tău întunecat

Atunci îl împle plânsul,

Iar ale vieții valuri bat

Călătorind spre dânsul.

Și dau cadențe de nespus

Durerii tale lunge

Pe când luceafărul e sus

Ca să nu-l poți ajunge.

Zâmbește trist cu raze reci

Speranțelor deșarte;

În veci iubi-o-vei, în veci,

Va rămânea departe

Și-a tale zile-or fi cum sunt

Pustii ca niște stepe;

Iar nopțile de-un farmec sfânt

Ce nu-l mai poți pricepe.

Final battle...

Both men were tiring, and confronted each other panting.
Ezio replied,'Your new regime will bring tyranny and misery to all.'
'I know what is best for the people of Italy, not a bunch of old men who wasted their energy fighting to get to the top years ago.'
'Your mistakes are worse than theirs.'
'I do not make mistakes. I am the Enlightened One!'
'Enlightenment comes through years of thought , not through blind conviction.'
(...)
'The throne was mine!' he said, like a child who has lost a toy.
'Wanting something does not give you the right to have it.' (pag. 520-521)

(Ezio Auditore&Cesare Borgia)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Renaissance")

Sonnet

How every hope of ours raised in vain,

How spoiled the plans we laid so well,

How ignorance throughout the earth doth reign,

Death, who is mistress of us all, can tell.

In song and dance and jousts some pass their days,

Some vow their talents unto gentle arts,

Some hold the world in scorn and all its ways,

Some hide the impulses that move their hearts.

Vain thoughts and wishes, cares of every kind

Greatly upon this erring earth prevail

In various presence after nature's lore;

Fortune doth fashion with inconstant mind,

All things are transient here below and frail,

Death only standeth fast for evermore. (Lorenzo - pag. 463)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Renaissance")