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Showing results for tags 'now youre doing it on purpose'.
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That's from Oathbringer (the book) right after Dalinar returns Oathbringer (the sword) to Ialai and learns that Amaram is to be the new Highprince Sadeas. Daliar's actual reaction was to have his feelings hurt and leave abruptly. Here's what he should have said: "Storms, Amaram, you've figured it out! You may be the first to ever figure that out! Would you like a... I don't know, a ribbon? A pat on the head? Both of my sons are pretty bright, you see, so I don't actually know what the customary reward is for a slightly slow child who has managed to solve a riddle of middling difficulty. Yes, I have done terrible things. I have killed and burned and ended innocent lives the length and breadth of Alethkar. And in so doing, I have amassed power and prestige which I have no intention of giving up now. It's all true. You want to talk about what morality is and isn't, Meridas? Morality isn't a footrace. You don't get extra points for being less vile than the next man. When we die, the being who weighs our souls isn't going to compare the reading to a ledger of those who came before. I am disgusted by the man I was, but I will use him. I will use his reputation and his ill-gotten gains to stop other people from falling to his level, if I can. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite, maybe just a fool. But I am too busy trying to save the world to worry about that just now. "Enjoy your new title, and your shards. Enjoy swinging around the corpse of a being once bonded to a better person than you will ever be." (Mostly I hate it when people treat "you're a hypocrite!" like a super-duper sick burn. Essentially they're saying "I accept your stated position on what is right and wrong, and rather than debate that, I am going to point out that you don't live up to your standards either." I think hypocrisy might actually be morally neutral! Whatever bad thing you're doing is bad, but saying it's bad doesn't make it worse.)