Cinda Williams Chima Quotes

A fiction writer is never entirely alone. Her characters are constantly whispering in her ear.

She could hear the rattle of hooves on stone evolve into a thunder of pursuit.

Imagine what it's like to be (untouchable)
Better not take a chance on me (untouchable)
I'm the bad boy your mama told you about
I'm dangerous, without a doubt
Even coming off a ten-year drought
Untouchable

I'm the rose with hidden thorns (untouchable)
Don't tell me that you haven't been warned (untouchable)
I'm pretty poison under the skin,
The bite of the apple that's a mortal sin
In a game of love you'll never win
Untouchable

My reputation's fairly earned (untouchable)
If you play with fire, you will get burned (untouchable)
Stay out of the kitchen if you can't take the heat,
My kisses are deadly as they are sweet,
I'm a runaway bus on a dead-end street
Untouchable

Fools rush in, that's what they say(untouchable)
But angels fall, too, most every day (untouchable)
I'm the snake in the garden, the siren on the reef
I have the face of a saint and the heart of a thief
I'll promise you love! And bring you nothing but grief
Untouchable

Hearing Jonah sing like this was like watching him slice himself open and show off his insides. Why would he do that? Why would be write such a song?
And then Emma answered her own question. Because good music always tells the truth, no matter how much it hurts.
Emma couldn't be the only one who felt the bite of the blade, but everyone else seemed to take it in stride. Did they know? Did

It's true what they say, then-history is written by the victors.

Admit nothing - that was his first rule. Appeal to logic - second rule. Delay the inevitable - third rule.

Then talk to Hastings."
Leesha flinched. "He's so scary, you know?

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Well now, Jack," Hastings said from the sidelines. "I'm afraid you've been beheaded. Not a good start." He sounded amused.

You can't assume that because you have plenty to eat that everyone does.

Ellen rose to her feet. Jack thought for a moment she was going to storm out. Instead, she picked up the pitcher of hot fudge and poured the contents onto Leesha Middleton's pink jeans and fuzzy white sweater.
"Oops." Ellen sat down again and went back to eating her ice cream.
Leesha screamed, a sound that could be heard in Canada. Every eye in Corcoran's was on her. She slid out of the booth and swiped ineffectually at her jeans with a napkin.Then she plucked at her ruined sweater with her thumb and forefinger. "You...you...I can't believe you did that!"
Ellen licked whipped cream from the back of her spoon and looked at Leesha calmly.
Leesha was tiny, but she seemed to expand, like an amphibian taking on air, then she drew herself up and retrieved her pink leather purse from the bench next to Jack. It was smeared with fudge too. "You'll pay for that, I promise you," she said to Ellen in a voice that raised the gooseflesh on Jack's neck. Then she turned and left.
For a moment, Corcoran's was totally silent.
Ellen looked across the table at Jack's sundae. "Are you going to finish that?

Uh, Miss, you have second and third degree burns that need treatment,"he said.
"They'll be okay. I'll just use concealer for a while.

Come on! We've had too many dead heroes. Being a coward increases your odds of survival-that's my motto. I'm counting on bieng faster than them.

Stupid. He was stupid. He was tired of being stupid.

Weird is good, strange is bad.

If someone grabs you in the street, hit hard and fast, because you may not get a second chance.

She was supposed to be writing an essay on how geography had shaped the great battles of the past, but she was having trouble concentrating. In fact, all she'd managed so far was a title. How Geography Has Shaped the Great Battles of the Past.

Believe me, there is no one more dangerous than one whose hopes have turned to despair.

He'd serve himself, waiting and watching until he could take advantage. He wouldn't play the fool anymore.

Ellen drank long and deep from her water bottle and wiped her mouth with her gauntleted arm. "Are you feeling all right, Jack? Your play's flat, all in all. I was hoping to give Seph more of a show."
Jack tested the edge of his blade with his thumb. "Actually, Ellen, I wondered if you were coming down with something. You were downright lethargic. I nearly dozed off once or twice."
"Well, that explains it. You looked like you were asleep."
With that, they threw down their weapons and it dissolved into a wrestling match. In the end they were kissing each other.
It was certainly a different kind of courtship, but there was a chemistry, an understanding, a kinship between Jack and Ellen that Seph envied.

The next chamber is full of songbirds, if I remember right. Their music is like turtleweed. It will put you to sleep if you listen to it. They sleep most of the time, so the best thing is to pass through without waking them up. If they do awaken, then you must sing loud enough to drown out their music."
"Great," Han said. "Whose idea was that?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Crow said. "I was an excellent singer.

He expects nothing, she thought, because he's never had anything. And nothing was expected of him. He was free in a way she never would be.

Don't pick a fight you can't win.

Revenge is a powerful motivation, especially for someone with nothing to lose.

Han stroked her hair, shifting his body under her. "Why? What are you afraid of? Thieves or wizards?"
"Both," she said.
"Is it because I‟m not a blueblood?" He asked this matter-of-factly, as if he really wanted to know.
"That‟s the least of it," Raisa said, taking a shuddering breath. "This is just going to lead to heartbreak, and I refuse to have my heart broken again." She looked up at him. "I thought I could play at love. I thought I had the right, same as - as any courtier or a - a streetlord."
He shook his head. "Rebecca, listen, I - "
"But I‟ve found out I‟m not made that way," she interrupted. "I can‟t play this game if my heart‟s not in it. That‟s me personally. I‟m not judging anyone else."
"I see," he said. He tightened his arms around her, brushing his fingers along her collarbone, setting her nerves tingling. "What‟s your heart saying now?"
She wanted to be honest with him, even though she‟d probably pay for it. "I‟m in trouble," she whispered.

Politics is not about justice. It's about the settling of personal vendettas under a thin veneer of civilization. All politics is personal.

Knowledge is power. In the wrong hands, knowledge is trouble.

Hope is the thing that can't be reigned in by rules or pinned down by bitter experience. It's a blessing and a curse.

Mellon is thirteen," Raisa said. "I hope you have experience babysitting, Micah, because you're going to need it. Assuming the Demonai don't assassinate you first. Married at thirteen, widowed at fourteen. Poor Mellony.

The human mind had a remarkable ability both to discount what it sees and make reality conform to expectation.

So here's the truth - I love you. I love everything about you – the way you stick up for people even when it costs you. The way you keep trying to do the right thing even when you're not exactly sure what the right thing is. I love how you put words together. You're as skilled with words as any knife fighter with a blade. You can put an enemy down on his back, or you can raise people up so they find what's best in themselves. You've changed my life. You've given me the words I need to become whatever I want.
I love how you talk to lytlings. You don't talk down to them. You respect them, and anybody can tell you're actually interested in what they have to say.
I love the way you ride a horse – how you stick there like an upland thistle, whooping like a Demonai. I love the way you throw back your head and stomp your feet when you dance. I love how you go after what you want – whether it's kisses or a queendom.
I love your skin, like copper dusted over with gold. And your eyes – they're the color of a forest lake shaded by evergreens. One of the secret places that only the Demonai know about.
I love the scent of you – when you've been out in the fresh air, and that perfume you put behind your ears sometimes.
Believe it or not, I even love your road smell – of sweat and horses and leather and wool.
I want to breathe you in for the rest of my life.

There's something about a roof isn't there? It makes you feel like it doesn't matter what's going on below. All of those things that get in the way of your dreams - you're above them. Anything is possible.

Do you think I'm stupid? Only a fool would use a fast-acting poison on a target with a taster. The taster goes down before the king gets it into his system.
Lila blinked at him, as if surprised by this display of logic.

We don't protect them because they're weak. We protect them because they are strong, and strong people make enemies.

You'd choose him over me?"

"He ain't the one making me choose.

Didn't you say that the key is to live in the moment?" Metelon asked.

"That's the excuse people use for foolish behavior.

That's what makes us human. Feeling things–even pain. That's what music does, if it's any good: it makes you feel things. You listen to a song, and somehow you know what that person was going through when he wrote it. Or maybe it puts a name to what you're feeling. And because you can share that, you don't feel so alone.

I do try to get my own way, but I think it's because I'll never get my way on anything that matters

Lucius had told him word was out that he was dead. Han decided that being dead made travel much easier.

Tears stung her eyes. She sank her knees next to the sleeping bench and gently raked strands of golden hair from him forehead.
"Don't you die. don't you dare. I forbid it." As if Han Alister had ever listened to anything she said.

I live in the present because the future is always chancy. When it comes to being with you, I'm willing to take the risk.

Strong men do choose strong women, he thought. It's only the weak that are threatened by them.

It's not just the real, but the perspective of real that counts. If people perceive you as weak, then you are weak, even if it's a survival strategy.

I always say yes to the man with the sword.

I go to school here, same as you,' Han said.
Micah blinked at him stupidly, the drink slowing him down. 'You? Do you even know how to read and write? They can't have lowered the standards that much.'
'Well,' Han said, 'they let you in.

But I don't want your throne." "Then what do you want?" "You.

How dare you?' Bayar began, but his voice had lost some of its force. 'How dare you come into this sacred hall, flinging accusations?'
'I have not yet made any accusations,' Willo said. 'Perhaps it is our own guilt clamoring in your ears.

Madison looked from Jason, who jerked his head toward the gate, signaling her to get moving, to Longbranch, whose cold, direct gaze said Jason would pay in blood for any kind of double-cross.
One thing was clear: Jason Haley had been lying to her since the moment he set foot on her porch. Was he really plotting with the Roses? Or had he decided to sacrifice himself to get her into the sanctuary?
Madison threw her arms around Jason's neck as if she couldn't face being parted from him and whispered fiercely in his ear, "You lying lunatic bastard. They're going to kill you."
"I love you too," he murmured. "Go find Seph. Help him.

Maybe you're the one that gave me up to the Darians at Oden's Ford."
"Right," she said, staring up at the ceiling. "And then I turned around and rescued you. You know women - changeable as a day in April. Sometimes we just can't make up our minds.

Emma was horrified and transfixed at the same time. She was watching Jonah Kinlock doing what he did best. There was a certain macabre beauty in watching form and function wedded together. In Jonah's case, a dance of beauty and death.

Sometimes you have to get away to remember who you are. Believe in yourself, Lyss. You're strong and smart enough to do this job. Never let anyone tell you different.

There were two more cars parked in the lot than when Seph and Madison had arrived. One was the old Jeep that Will and Ellen shared. The other one was unfamiliar, a black minivan with a rent-a-car sticker. It must belong to the alumni, Seph thought. At least he hoped so, because he melted all four tires.

Think of what we could accomplish if we were not focused on murdering each other.

Haven't you heard about me?" he said, with a tight smile. "I'm really a very dangerous person." And he did look dangerous until he said, "Look, could you watch Dog for me while I'm gone? I can't take him where I'm going.

We can't rely on magic to win the day.

A girl who would never play in a tournament. She'd been butchered by agents of the Red Rose when they'd been unable to steal her away.

Raisa's breath caught. "They clubbed you?"
"Well." He looked sideways at her. "If you were any good, they'd miss.

They were like two pieces of a failed star, drawn together by a shared history and a memory of illicit kisses.

Crow walked toward her, arms outstretched like a man in a dream, which he was, in a way. Sometimes a dream is enough.

As for my family, my father was Danel; he died as a mercenary in the southern wars," Han went on. "My mother's name was Sarah, called Sali, and my sister was Mari. They died last summer. But then, you already knew that. Every time you forget, I'll remind you. That's the blood sacrifice I made to be here, and that's enough.

We may be poor, but at least we've always been honest."

Something broke inside Han, and when he opened his mouth the words came spilling out. "We're

I . . . what do you mean? I don't know any Angelique."
Catherine stared at him in surprise. "Why, Garren, of course you know Angelique, the clerk in my shop in Whitehall?"
Garren planted both hands on the table and pushed to his feet. "Let's go. This is a waste of time." "It says . . ." The seer frowned, as if trying to make out a hazy script.
"It says, 'I'm not going to sleep with you anymore, you faithless bastard.

You didn't have to go to the fireworks with him. Or - or let him fondle you."
"Fondle?" Raisa raised her eyebrows, "When did I mention fondling?

I like to know the truth. That's all. I just wish the truth was different.

A battle is like a deadly sort of dance, Lyss thought. We learn the steps by sparring in the practice yards, by marching up and down the field in the hope that we'll remember the moves when we're distracted by the smell of blood and the shrieks of the wounded anddeath howling toward us from all sides. We go into battle to the cadence of drums and guns, but our dance cards are blank. We have no idea who we'll dance with that day, when death might cut in, and who'll leave the floor alive.

You don't stop being who you are just because you've run away.

She had never felt more alive than when she lay dying in Han Alister's arms.

Allison was at full strength when it came to one thing:attitude.

It's easy to die, Mageling . . . It's staying alive that's hard work.

If you're scared, you should've stayed at home," Byram said.
"If you're not scared, you're stupid.

Scummer," Mick muttered. Mick never said much, and when he did it was usually "scummer.

If he even survives." She shivered, and Amon put his arm around her, drawing her into his steady warmth.
"It's that bad?"
Raisa nodded. "He looked ... he looked awful, Amon. Willo doesn't know if he'll ... She's worried about him. My mother died, and I never got to tell her that I loved her, that I finally understood - just a little anyway. If Han dies too, I don't know what I'll do.

You look like a boy who has eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge and doesn't like the taste.

He'd always found that he learned more if he kept quiet.

If a lady should do this, Raisa wondered, should a man do the same? Is he required to?

So you questioned him?" Raisa prompted. "What did he say for himself?"
"Well, the first thing Gillen does is steal his purse and beat him with a club." Amon said.

It's not enough to do something. It's important to do the right thing.

The northern soldiers are just men," Hal told the men in his command. "And women," he amended. "When you cut them, they bleed, just like us.

Even when we win, we lose, Lyss thought.

You are not being paid to make assumptions

Do you carry a dagger, Your Highness?"
Raisa nodded. "I do, as a rule, but Micah and Fiona took mine."
"Then take this one." He wiped the blade on his breeches, returned the blade to a sheath at his waist, then unbuckled the belt, handing the whole package to her. Raisa slid the blade free, turning it so it caught the light. It was of the same make and design as the Lady sword, with the image of Hanalea worked into the hilt.
"I can't take this!" She protested. "It belongs to your family."
"I've not much use for it, in fact," Byrne replied. "If I let an enemy get close enough to need it, I deserve what I get.

You've grown so tall, Mageling, in these four years," she said, as if she hadn't really looked at him for a while. "And handsome. Are you taller than your father was?"
"So I'm told. It's hard for me to remember now." That was a lie. He remembered - exactly - the measure of his father's arm around his shoulders, the distance between them when he leaned down to speak at Ash's level, even the scent of him - leather and sweat and fresh mountain air.

Maybe Charlotte was right, and I was hopelessly addicted to breaking rules oprinciple.

It was just a different kind of battle, one he'd have to learn to win

Jason felt humiliated and frustrated. Rejected by a rock.

A vocation is not something you slap on, like a coat of paint, and change whenever you want. A vocation is built into you. You have no choice. If you try to do something else, you fail.

Crow shrugged. "What is death? The loss of a body? The loss of the animating spark? If that's the case, I am dead.
"Or is life the persistence of memory and emotion, volition and desire?" Crow went on, as if in a debate with himself. "If that's the case, I am very much alive.

He keeps this up, he's bound to be caught, she thought. And this time they'll dangle him for certain.

And, like a fool, she kissed him back. Kissed him a way that would leave no doubt about the way she felt about him. Kissed him because she knew the chances were slim she'd have very many kisses like that in her lifetime.
Which is a sad thing when you're only seventeen.

We're all dangerous in our own way, I guess.

Leesha knew from experience that when parents don't parent, kids grow up fast.

To be honest, I thought of you as an amateur - a spoiled, entitled, runaway princeling bent on revenge who would get caught and then complicate my elegant scheme. I figured the less you knew, the better."
"I hate it when you sugarcoat things," Ash said.

Just tell me you don't love me, and I'll let the matter drop."
"What?"
"What I said. Just say, 'Rai, I don't love you and I never will'. It's that simple."
"Raisa, this is getting us nowhere."
"Say it!

Truth be told, Raisa had no intention of marrying anyone any time soon. Her mother was young - she would rule for many years yet, so there was no need to rush into the confinement of marriage.

He couldn't say why Captain Gray got under his skin the way she did. Though strong and well made, she was no great beauty, compared to the women he'd been introduced to at court. Yet, when they were together, she elbowed everything else out of his mind.

"Matelon?"

He looked up, and she was studying him with her amber eyes. Did she know that she had this effect on him? He prayed to all the gods she did not.

Raisa tried to lift her head and look around, but couldn't seem to find the strength. "Where are they the assassins?"

"They're already dead," Micah whispered in her ear. "I killed them on my way up. Else I would have been there sooner.

But adulthood slipped up on you, she thought. It was forced on you whether you liked it or not.

Well, all right, Ash thought. Maybe freeing the dragon wasn't such a good idea.

Like everyone else at the Anchorage, except maybe for Natalie, Jonah had developed the blinders that allowed him to dance on. That prevented him from seeing the gradual decline of everyone around him; that allowed him to pretend that they weren't all heading for the same tragic end. The band played on as the ship sank beneath them. Distracted by the magic of music, they would keep dancing until the wavesclosed over thier heads.

You don't have to understand, you just have to survive.

Love everywhere, and none for me.

She's tough for a blueblood, he'd thought, a lifetime ago. Maybe tough enough to be with him. He hadn't considered that he might not be tough enough to be with her.