Alison Goodman Quotes

Men were always quick to believe in the madness of women.

How could I explain that it was not all playacting? That I felt more of the male spirit within me than the female - a fierceness that whittled me down to a sharpened spear of ambition. And as a boy, I was applauded, not punished, for such raw energy. It was not beaten out of me for my own good, or worn away by women's chores.

Lord Carlston was not a man to be contained, even in adjectives.

It was Dolana, at the salt farm, who first told me about the gaze of men: that look of temporary possession that some men pressed against female flesh. About its dangers and possibilities. It can be used to survive, Dolana had said softly, showing me the power that lay in reflecting a man's desire. And even at twelve years old, the knowledge of it was already in the way I moved my head, my hands, my shoulders. But Dolana had whispered her secrets to a girl. And I had to become a boy. I had to stop being alert to the turn of a man's head towards me. Stop glancing up to meet his gaze in fleeting connection. Stop falsely veiling my eyes from his momentary interest. It was hard to train out of my body, but I practised and learned to cloak myself in the skin and gaze of a boy.

History does not care about the suffering of the individual. Only the outcome of their struggles.

He grunted. 'You have the courage of a warrior.'
I watched him turn away and gather the clothes from the ground. He thought me courageous? But I was terrified - always terrified.
'No,' I said flatly. 'I don't.
He paused from stuffing the invaluable robe between two bales. 'Are you frightened now?'
I nodded, shame flushing my skin.
'Is it going to stop you?'
'No.'
'That is the courage of a warrior.

Even a leaf in the wind settles sometimes.

Don't say anything. Just act cool," I whispered.
Mavkel started to shiver.
"Like this?" it asked.
"No, I mean act calm."
Mavkel stopped shivering.

But most of all I learned how not to be watched. ... that look of temporary possession that some men gave... And even at twelve years old, the knowledge of it was already in the way I moved my head, my hands, my shoulders. ... I had to stop being alert to the turn of a man's head toward me. Stop glancing up to meet his gaze in fleeting connection. Stop falsely veiling my eyes from his momentary interest.

How could such heat remain when we were not even touching?

No one can ever truly know what is in another man's heart.

But there is a chasm between what is known and what is said.

A man who lifts his chin in pride will fail to see the chasm at his feet.

The course of love was never straight.

You have forced your way into my Hua, Eona. Change me. First, by your power- then, just by who you are.

Even a cornered rabbit will fight with teeth and claws.

I felt something stir within me. It took a moment to recognise it. Anger.

A cold realisation washed over me. From now on, my master would not always be there to protect and counsel me.
'This is big. Too big,' I said. 'What do I do?'
'You follow your destiny,' Ryoko said. 'As we all do. With honour and courage.

He gave me a message for you." She tightened her lips as if the words soured her mouth.
"What is it?"
"That you are in his blood."
I looked down at the deck to hide the answering surge within my own blood.
"Those are the words of a lover, Eona.

Too many doubts grow in the cracks of silence and separation.

I know that love is about power, too. Who gives, who takes. Who is willing to risk showing their true self.

Sometimes there is no good choice. Just the choice that has to be made.

Girls were meant to paint screens, sob out ballads, and play the pianoforte, not see through the masks of polite society. It

Even without the Grand Reclaimer bond, Helen, you are my heartbeat. My pulse. You are the fire in my blood and the laughter in my soul.

Or perhaps one's foes always seemed smaller once they had been defeated.

It is not often that the real world conjures worse than what we can imagine.

There was a saying that a man's true character was revealed in defeat. I thought it was also revealed in victory.

Don't ask any questions and you won't hear any lies.

You lie even to yourself. Now that is the mark of a fool.

In the steady light of her power,she pressed a kiss upon his mouth and breathed two words into the soft caress."Amore mio."

She felt his arms circle her,his lips curling into a smile against her own.

"In Russian," she added ,"it is lyubov moya.

How brief and hidden were the moments of destiny.