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.
Thus is our treaty written; thus is agreement made. Thought is the arrow of time; memory never fades. What was asked is given; the price is paid.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the permanence of memories and the nature of time in relation to agreements and actions.
In this quote by Robert Jordan, the author emphasizes the significance of thoughts and memories in the flow of time, suggesting that once something is committed to thought or action, it remains lasting and immutable. The phrase indicates that agreements and the consequences of our actions—what we ask of life—are intrinsically tied to the way we perceive and remember them, highlighting the weight of responsibility that comes with our decisions.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on the importance of keeping promises, one might say this quote to emphasize the significance of agreements.
More from Robert Jordan
All quotes →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.
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.
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