Duty is heavier than a mountain, Dai Shan.' That time, Lan did flinch. How long had it been since someone had been able to do that to him with mere words? He remembered teaching that same concept to a youth out of the Two Rivers. A sheepherder, innocent of the world, fearful of the fate laid out before him by the Pattern.
Interpretation
Duty can weigh heavily on one's shoulders, affecting decisions and actions.
The quote reflects the profound impact of duty and responsibility in one's life. It emphasizes how the concept of duty can feel burdensome and challenging, especially when faced with overwhelming circumstances or expectations. The reference to teaching a youth highlights the importance of imparting wisdom to others regarding the weight of their choices and the paths they are destined to follow, symbolizing a shared human experience of grappling with one's responsibilities.
In practice
In a speech about leadership, one might quote this to emphasize the burden that comes with responsibility.
Fantasy is an area where it is possible to talk about right and wrong, good and evil, with a straight face. In mainstream fiction and even in a good deal of mystery, these things are presented as simply two sides of the same coin. Never really more than a matter of where you happen to be standing.
The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.
Til shade is gone, til water is gone Into the shadow with teeth bared Screaming defiance with the last breath To spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the Last Day.
He came like the wind, like the wind touched everything, and like the wind was gone. -from The Dragon Reborn. By Loial, son of Arent son of Halan, the Fourth Age.
The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.
Moiraine: It seems Ryne was wrong as well as a Darkfriend. You were better than he. Lan: He was better. But he thought I was finished, with only one arm. He never understood. You surrender after you're dead.
We do not celebrate the death of our enemies.
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind.
For there is no one so great or mighty that he can avoid the misery that will rise up against him when he resists and strives against God.
Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply a refusal to deny the obvious. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which the obvious is overlooked as a matter of principle.
You know when civilization began? With the invention of the mirror.
He who serves his brother best gets nearer God than all the rest.
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