# Quote — James S. A. Corey, The Mercy of Gods

> “We never had a chance,” he said. “Look at all this. We never stood a chance against this.”
>
> “We did not,” Else agreed. “Too bad we didn’t know.”
>
> “Knowing wouldn’t have mattered.”…
>
> “We’d have fought anyway,” he said, thinking of Ostencour and his improvised knife. Synnia wrestling down the guard. “It’s what we do.”
>
> “I don’t know if that idea is stupid or noble,” Else said.
>
> “Human,” Dafyd said. “It’s just human. We don’t stop just because there’s no hope.”
>
> Else nodded, stopped with her brow furrowed. A tear dropped from her eye unnoticed, and she shrugged. “There's always hope for something. Just not always…not always what we want.”

- Author: [James S. A. Corey](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey.md)
- Book: [The Mercy of Gods](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods.md)
- Page: 136
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_S._A._Corey#The_Mercy_of_Gods_(2024)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods/we-never-had

## More from this book

> He had a brief but vivid memory of being seven years old at his grandmother’s vineyard in Nortcoor, looking into the night sky and seeing it for the first time as infinity towering above him like God, only worse because it was real.

p. 60 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods/he-had-a-brief.md)

> The end-of-year celebration was different. It was a nested series of lies. A minefield scattered with gold nuggets, opportunity and disaster in visibly mingled.

p. 9 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods/the-end-of-year-celebration.md)

> “You know what this is. This is a sign.”
>
> “A sign,” he said.
>
> “The tools we needed to take on our new project, given to us exactly when we needed them. It’s the universe telling us that Ostencour’s plan is the right thing to do.”
>
> “Or the natural playing out of consequences,” Campar said, trying for lightness. “Hard to tell those apart sometimes.”

p. 342 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods/you-know-what.md)