Every now and then I like to do as I’m told, just to confuse people.
Someday I must read this scholar Everyone. He seems to have written so much–all of it wrong.
Do you know, sire, I think that if we live to tell our grandchildren about this war, they will accuse us of making it up.’ -Marielle
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, my lord. You are an evil man.
Alanna: All I know is that I’m to jump when I’m told and I have no free time.
You didn’t kill him. He would have killed you, but you didn’t kill him.””So? He was stupid. If I killed everyone who was stupid, I wouldn’t have time to sleep.
Alanna didn’t approve of lying, but in a pinch a lie was sometimes better than the truth.
No more is your master a god, Nobility, but he wants offerings from all. When Black God claims us, who will be punished for giving worship and power to a false god? The prince? Or Banjiku?
Excuse me,” she said politely. “But you can’t have him. Not yet. He’s going to come back with me.
If I have to ‘catch’ a man to get a husband, I don’t want one.
Not one word,” Kel warned. “Tobe and I have reached an understanding.” Neal’s lips twitched. “Why do I feel you did most of the understanding.
The bravest person I know is afraid of the dark. She sleeps with a night lamp always, but if her friends are threatened? She suddenly thinks she’s a bear twelve feet tall and attacks whoever scared her friends.
Fear is a good thing. It mean you’re paying attention.
Why does this mean so much to you, Jon?”The Prince turned. “Because he’s my friend. Because I always know where he stands, and where I stand with him. Because I think he’d die for me and–and I think I’d die for him. Is that enough?
George looked at her for a long moment. Finally he replied, “And why do you find it so hard to think someone might like you and want to do things for you?
I’m not so fond of people myself, Evvy, but I took my vows for a reason. There are two classes of people in the world, the destroyers and the builders. I want to build, not destroy. You need to ask yourself who you’re going to be.
Why do boys say someone acts like a girl as if it were an insult?
You ride as a man, fight as a man, and you think as a man-“”I think as a human being,” she retorted hotly. “Men don’t think any differently from women- they just make more noise about being able to.
This may be my only chance to see humans before these two are made into fertilizer for Moonwind’s rosebushes.
Would I serve you or (Prince) Jon stolen goods? he asked. “No, don’t answer me.
She rides as a man, goes unveiled as a man, fights as a man. Let her prove herself worthy as a man, worthy of her weapons and of our friendship.
Didn’t they realize that the only way to change things was to act?
Tris: “I was reading.” Sandry: “You’re always reading. The only way people can ever talk to you is to interrupt.” Tris: “Then maybe they shouldn’t talk to me.
Daja: “He and Rosethorn work together? They hate each other.” Lark: “I didn’t say they liked it.- Daja and Lark referring to Rosethorn and Crane’s cooperation on finding the cures for new diseases
I well knew the rules to follow with our training Dogs: Speak when you’re spoken to. Keep out of the way. Obey all orders. Get killed on your own time.
There is power and there is power, my dear. My power can be vast, in the right places.
Don’t we teach our women to view all men according to the actions of a few?
It occurred to Keth for the first time that perhaps magic wasn’t simply a matter of fires, lightning, and power in the air, if spoken words could also create such a transformation.
Without patience, magic would be undiscovered – in rushing everything, we would never hear its whisper inside.
Waves are the voices of tides. Tides are life,” murmured Niko. “They bring new food for shore creatures, and take ships out to sea. They are the ocean’s pulse, and our own heartbeat.
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean–“”To speak of it?” asked the K’mir. Diane nodded. “You have to, just to bleed off the poison from the memory.
Sadly for my wedding plans, I learned that Nestor is a bardash. I envy the men who enjoy his favors. He has always treated me with friendship which I now value more than my old romantic feelings.
Briar: “So I guess I was the last to know.” Rosethorn: “Of course you are. You’re a man, aren’t you?
We build up pretty pictures of men, when we want to be in love. We hate to have them ruined.
If you look hard and long, you can find us. If you listen hard and long, you can hear any of us, call any of us that you wish.
Ishabal: “If you may correct your vision as you like, why do you wear spectacles?” Tris: “Because I like them. Because I have better things to do with my magic than fixing my vision when ordinary glass will do.
The first thing every mage should learn is that magic makes fools of us. Now you may call yourself a mage. You have learned the most important lesson.
Sandry: “There has to be something we can do.” Lark: “We’re mages. We do what we can, but some problems are too big to fix.” Sandry: “Then I wish I weren’t a mage. What good is magic, if you can’t use it to help people.
What good is magic, if you can’t use it to help people?
Well, laddie, if you’ve let an old buzzard like me hurt you confidence, you couldn’t have had much in the first place.
It’s always better to attack than to defend,” Coram had told her when they talked about fencing late at night. “Always. Ye don’t win with defense–ye only hold the other feller off, or wear him down. Attack and have done with it!
And she told you something about yourself you really ought to know: that you’re beautiful, and worth loving.
I was stark raving mad, and my family was too polite to mention it. That’s what living with the Yamanis does to people. They get so well-mannered they won’t mention you’re crazy.
If I say you’re a goatherd’s son, you say, ‘Yes, Lord Ralon.'”Alanna gasped with fury. “I’d as soon kiss a pig! Is that what you’ve been doing-kissing pigs? Or being kissed?
Moral issues rarely have yes or no answers.-Myles to Alanna when she asks about the Gift
Just because I’m no jaw clacker doesn’t mean there should be a ruction put up whenever I have sommat to say.
Alan, you seem to think we won’t like you unless you do things just like everyone else. Have you ever thought we might like you because you’re different?
I wish you would thrash him. He deserves it.”She looked back at him. “I will one day, sir. I’m getting tired of falling down.
I would apologize for my rudeness, if I had any manners. Happily, I don’t.
I said I fell down. Ah. The ground bloodied your nose, split yer lip, and punched ye in th’ eye, all at once.I said I don’t want to talk about it.
There’s plenty more fish in the sea than Prince Jonathan,” he told her softly. “And this particular fish loves you with all his crooked heart.”-George to Alanna
We’re on a hunt, Cooper. When you’re on a hunt, you do whatever it takes.
Never break a promise to an animal. They’re like babies—they won’t understand.
I forgot my purse of laughter when I dressed this mornin’,” she told me. “Have you not bought anythin’ the last few days? Prices have gone up. Pay or starve, it’s all one to me.
Oh, Daja,” moaned Jory, “you sound just like my parents.” She ran from the schoolroom.”Well, there’s no reason to insult me, “muttered Daja, half offended.
Curiosity killed the cat,” Fesgao remarked, his dark eyes unreadable.Aly rolled her eyes. Why did everyone say that to her? “People always forget the rest of the saying,” she complained. “‘And satisfaction brought it back.
Cats aren’t special advisers. They advise us all the time, whether we want them to or no.
You’re more trouble than you’re worth.” “I’m a girl. That’s my job.
Thus went my first Court Day.I think I’m going to puke.
He was stupid. If I killed everyone who was stupid, I wouldn’t have time to sleep.
She’s all over us like maggots on garbage, just because I interfered with one pickpocket yesterday.
You must tell Lady Alanna that sometime. I’d do it from a distance.
Stefan spat. “Oh, aye, he fell. O’ course, Master Ralon helped him fall, several times. Poor li’l tyke didn’t have a chance.
Men broke into their homes, killed their families, threatened you–and you won’t let them do anything for fear you’ll be hurt. That’s selfish. How would you like it if I took your bow and said I cared too much about you to let you fight?
I’m sorry,” she said humbly. “I haven’t wanted to lie to you.””I should hope so. You’re the worst liar I’ve ever met.” He thought about it for a moment, then added, “–or the best. Now I’m all confused.
Ralon didn’t make anyone else put his tack away?” Alex wanted to know. “You didn’t see anything stra
Mistresses, have you ever noticed that when we disagree with a male- I hesitate to say ‘man’- or find ourselves in a position over males, the first comment they make is always about our reputations or our monthlies?
What trouble have you brought to my doorstep, Beka?” she asked.”I don’t see where blaming me for things that began months ago will be useful,” I replied.
What people tell me they take away from my books is that they can shape their lives, they can achieve their own dreams. And certainly that’s what I want them to take away.
I come from a dysfunctional family, so my views of parents and parenting used to be highly mixed.
My husband and I click wedding rings sometimes and say, ‘By the power of the Castle of Greyskull!’