{
  "type": "quote",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/the-rise-of-endymion/i-realized-that",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/the-rise-of-endymion/i-realized-that.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/the-rise-of-endymion/i-realized-that.md",
  "id": "06f9018a-a05f-4fca-a688-44f9abff9011",
  "slug": "i-realized-that",
  "text": "I realized that for this moment, nothing in the past mattered. Nothing terrible in the future mattered. What mattered was her skin against me, her hand holding me, the perfume of her hair and skin and the warmth of her breath against my chest. This was satori. This was truth.",
  "language": "en",
  "author": {
    "name": "Dan Simmons",
    "slug": "dan-simmons",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons"
  },
  "book": {
    "title": "The Rise of Endymion",
    "slug": "the-rise-of-endymion",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/the-rise-of-endymion"
  },
  "character": null,
  "chapter": null,
  "chapter_parent": null,
  "page": 532,
  "verified": false,
  "original": null,
  "other_languages": [],
  "topics": [
    {
      "name": "love",
      "slug": "love",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love"
    },
    {
      "name": "the present moment",
      "slug": "the-present-moment",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-present-moment"
    }
  ],
  "source": {
    "name": "Wikiquote",
    "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dan_Simmons#The_Rise_of_Endymion_(1997)",
    "license": {
      "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
      "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
    }
  },
  "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:53",
  "more_from_book": [
    {
      "id": "cc0f4792-d2b7-4439-b328-b0b2c03cc909",
      "slug": "one-of-the",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/the-rise-of-endymion/one-of-the",
      "text": "“One of the few benefits of the fall of civilization as we know it,” he says, “is that there are private cellars with fine vintages everywhere one digs. It is not theft. It is archaeology.”",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 674,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "humor",
          "slug": "humor",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dan_Simmons#The_Rise_of_Endymion_(1997)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:54"
    },
    {
      "id": "ab409318-7b70-463b-9499-afc1e8509bf7",
      "slug": "there-are-no-ghosts",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/the-rise-of-endymion/there-are-no-ghosts",
      "text": "There are no ghosts, my love. Death is final. The soul is that ineffable combination of memory and personality which we carry through life...when life departs, the soul also dies. Except for what we leave in the memory of those who loved us.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 578,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "death",
          "slug": "death",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death"
        },
        {
          "name": "memory",
          "slug": "memory",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/memory"
        },
        {
          "name": "soul",
          "slug": "soul",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/soul"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dan_Simmons#The_Rise_of_Endymion_(1997)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:54"
    },
    {
      "id": "8c57e8e2-51b3-448e-bbd6-4cb61c46f744",
      "slug": "as-is-always",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/the-rise-of-endymion/as-is-always",
      "text": "As is always the case when you are with the actual human being behind the celebrity or legend, there is something human about the man or woman that makes things less than myth.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 677,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "fame",
          "slug": "fame",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fame"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dan_Simmons#The_Rise_of_Endymion_(1997)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:54"
    }
  ]
}