{
  "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/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus/why-do-men",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus/why-do-men.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus/why-do-men.md",
  "id": "96d44e3f-896a-4d3c-9205-412371dc74fb",
  "slug": "why-do-men",
  "text": "Why do men always want to tamper with the natural order of things?\n\n“When something breaks, we fix it, that’s all.”\n\nWhat gave you the absurd idea that [the world]’s broken?\n\n“It’s not the way it was before, Em. To our way of looking at things, that means that it’s broken.”\n\n[...]\n\nChange doesn’t necessarily mean improvement, Althalus. Change is just change. “Better” and “worse” are human definitions. The world changes all the time, and no amount of complaining’s going to stop it from changing.",
  "language": "en",
  "author": {
    "name": "David Eddings",
    "slug": "david-eddings",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings"
  },
  "book": {
    "title": "The Redemption of Althalus",
    "slug": "the-redemption-of-althalus",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus"
  },
  "character": null,
  "chapter": null,
  "chapter_parent": null,
  "page": null,
  "verified": false,
  "original": null,
  "other_languages": [],
  "topics": [
    {
      "name": "nature",
      "slug": "nature",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature"
    },
    {
      "name": "change",
      "slug": "change",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change"
    }
  ],
  "source": {
    "name": "Wikiquote",
    "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Eddings#Part_II_cap_8",
    "license": {
      "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
      "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
    }
  },
  "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:22",
  "more_from_book": [
    {
      "id": "f7ce1da9-a189-402f-9b8e-62e90800d4de",
      "slug": "ive-seen-this",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus/ive-seen-this",
      "text": "I’ve seen this all before, Althalus ... many, many times. An idea that’s born in glory starts to tarnish almost immediately.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "transience",
          "slug": "transience",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience"
        },
        {
          "name": "ideas",
          "slug": "ideas",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Eddings#Part_VI_cap_40",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:23"
    },
    {
      "id": "f54cb2f0-9130-4ae4-8dfd-d8b54d007111",
      "slug": "if-hes-only",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus/if-hes-only",
      "text": "“If he’s only a boy, what was he doing in a war?”\n\n“He comes from a warrior culture. They start earlier than civilized people do. It was his first war, and it was supposed to be a quiet one. The half-wit who sits on the throne in Kanthon got carried away, though, so he ordered the soldiers he’d hired from Eliar’s Clan Chief to invade your father’s territory. It was a stupid thing to do, and it wasn’t supposed to happen. It was his fault that your father got killed, not Eliar’s. Eliar was only following orders. The whole business was the result of a series of stupid mistakes, but that’s what most wars are all about, I guess. Nobody ever really wins a war, when you get right down to it.”",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "war",
          "slug": "war",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war"
        },
        {
          "name": "stupidity",
          "slug": "stupidity",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Eddings#Part_II_cap_13",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:23"
    },
    {
      "id": "f11b1cb7-3030-4db4-869b-8e74c032d83e",
      "slug": "the-theorists-make",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus/the-theorists-make",
      "text": "The theorists make high-minded speeches. Their followers cheer and applaud—briefly—and then they get back to the business of appropriating everything of value.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "hypocrisy",
          "slug": "hypocrisy",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy"
        },
        {
          "name": "ideology",
          "slug": "ideology",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideology"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Eddings#Part_VI_cap_40",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:23"
    }
  ]
}
