Gran, for the gods’ love, it’s talk like yours that starts riots!” I said keeping my voice down. “Will you just put a stopper in it?”She looked at me and sighed. “Girl, do you ever...

You know something? There are sandstorms that strip man and horse and bury them — I’ve seen them. I saw bones piled higher than my head for the folly of a bad king and those...

Auugghh!” he yelled, his voice stronger than it had been since his return from the harbor. “Are you trying to kill me, woman?””If I mean to kill someone, I do it,” Rosethorn told him. “I...

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...

Corus lay on the southern bank of the Oloron River, towers glinting in the sun. The homes of wealthy men lined the river to the north; tanners, smiths, wainwrights, carpenters, and the poor clustered on...

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...

Just because I’m no jaw clacker doesn’t mean there should be a ruction put up whenever I have sommat to say.

You’re more trouble than you’re worth.” “I’m a girl. That’s my job.

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.

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...

Thus went my first Court Day.I think i’m going to puke.

Alanna: All I know is that I’m to jump when I’m told and I have no free time.

Pounce had it easier than any of us. No one noticed a black cat in the street. He stopped here and there to sniff aught of interest. Wherever our Rat stopped, Pounce was there, close...

‘And satisfaction brought it back.

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?

Sarra looked at her daughter and said reproachfully, “Speaking of war, I never raised you to be always fighting and killing. That’s not woman’s work.””It’s needful, Ma. You taught me a woman has to know...

Don’t die on me,” she whispered when the clock struck midnight and he still had not moved. “It’s only a little shoulder wound. Goddess, George-don’t die on me.”His eyes flickered open and he smiled. “I...

There is power and there is power, my dear. My power can be vast, in the right places.

If you have to hit–hit low.

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.

That night, the Raka conspirators had plenty of news to report, particularly Ochobu. Aly had not known that the mages of the Chain had been laboring to eliminate any mages who had worked magic on...

Without patience, magic would be undiscovered – in rushing everything, we would never hear its whisper inside.

Cats aren’t special advisers. They advise us all the time, whether we want them to or no.

I don’t have so many friends that I can afford to turn my back on any of them.

Moral issues rarely have yes or no answers.-Myles to Alanna when she asks about the Gift

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...

Money talks and walks, but it does not bark.

Ralon didn’t make anyone else put his tack away?” Alex wanted to know. “You didn’t see anything strange?” Alanna didn’t look up. “No.” It wasn’t strange , she excused her lie mentally. Ralon does things...

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.

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.

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.

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...

It’s harder to heal than it is to kill.

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.

Every now and then I like to do as I’m told, just to confuse people.

He’s got courage,” Alex said.”Courage!” Raoul bellowed. “That coward almost kills him and–

Well, laddie, if you’ve let an old buzzard like me hurt you confidence, you couldn’t have had much in the first place.

She’s all over us like maggots on garbage, just because I interfered with one pickpocket yesterday.

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.

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...

We’re on a hunt, Cooper. When you’re on a hunt, you do whatever it takes.

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.

Feelings, she learned, were hard to fight. She treasured his smiles and compliments and tried not to dwell on the fact that he gave this things to his friend Kel.His dreamy-eyed gazes, poems, and fits...

I told Ersken, “Lately it’s been like living on the knife’s edge, never knowing which side I’ll fall off on”Ersken clapped me on the shoulder as we stepped into the street. “Cheer up, Beka. Maybe...

Someday I must read this scholar Everyone. He seems to have written so much–all of it wrong.

Stefan shook his head. Th’ lad’s got guts , he thought. Not much sense, but guts.

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?

This may be my only chance to see humans before these two are made into fertilizer for Moonwind’s rosebushes.