Bitterblue Quotes

Raffin and Bann stood together, propped against the wall and against each other, half dozing. At one point, Raffin, not knowing he had one small, curious witness, gave Bann a sleepy kiss on the ear.
Bitterblue had wondered that about them. I t was nice when something in the world became clear. Especially when it was a nice thing. ~ Kristin Cashore

Why does everybody throw every troublesome thing into the river? ~ Kristin Cashore

I'm afraid of plenty of things," he said. "I just do them anyway. ~ Kristin Cashore

Madlen: 'It's a relief to me, Lady Queen, that in your own pain, you take no interest in hurting yourself.'
Bitterblue: 'Why would I? Why should I? It's foolish. I would like to kick the people who do it.'
Madlen: 'That would, perhaps, be redundant, Lady Queen. ~ Kristin Cashore

I wish people would stop hitting Po," whispered Bitterblue.
"Well," Giddon said. "Yes. I'm hoping Skye is following my model. Punch Po; go on a long trip; feel better; come back and make up. ~ Kristin Cashore

I don't understand your book. Isn't every book a book of words? ~ Kristin Cashore

You don't need to be strong to drive your thumbs into a man's eyeballs," Katsa said, "but it does a lot of damage."
"That's disgusting," Bitterblue said.
"Someone your size doesn't have the luxury of fighting cleanly, Bitterblue. ~ Kristin Cashore

Katsa has wondered if a person could ever build wings to fly with."
"What do you mean, to fly with?" said Bitterblue, suddenly irate.
"You know what I mean."
"You'll only encourage her to believe it can be done."
"I have no doubt it can be done."
"To what purpose?" snapped Bitterblue.
Po's eyebrows rose. "Flying would be its own purpose, Cousin. Don't worry, no one would ever expect the queen to do it."
No, I'll be left with the honor of planning the funerals. ~ Kristin Cashore

How acutely sometimes the presence or absence of people mattered ~ Kristin Cashore

Still doing your best to ruin the horses, I see.'
Katsa froze. The voice came from above rather than behind, and it didn't sound quite like Skye. She turned.
'I though it was supposed to be impossible to sneak up on you. Eyes of a hawk and ears of a wolf and all that,' he said- and there, he was there, standing straight, eyes glimmering, mouth twitching, and the path he'd plowed through the snow stretching behind him. Katsa cried out and ran, tackling Po so hard that he fell back into the snow and she on top of him. And he laughed, and held her tight, and she was crying; and then Bitterblue came and threw herself squealing on top of them. ~ Kristin Cashore

That's interesting," Bitterblue said. "You think a conscience requires fear? ~ Kristin Cashore

Bitterblue took this information straight to the library. "Death?" she said. "Do we have birth records for the seven kingdoms for the year Leck would have been born? Will you review them for someone with a name that sounds like Eemkerr?"
"A name that sounds like Eemkerr," Death repeated, peering up at her from his new desk, which was covered with smelly, scorched papers.
"Lady Fire says that Leck told her that before his name was Leck, it was Eemkerr."
"Which is a name she remembers from almost fifty years ago," Death said sarcastically, "spoken to her, not spelled, presumably not a name from her own language, and conveyed to you mentally fifty years later. And I'm to recall every instance of a name of that nature in all the birth records available to me from the relevant year for all seven kingdoms, on the extremely slim chance that we have the name right and a record exists?"
"I know you're just as happy as I am," said Bitterblue.
Death's mouth twitched. Then he said, "Give me some time to remember, Lady Queen. ~ Kristin Cashore

Only a person with the true heart of a dictionary-writer would be lying in bed, three days after being stabbed in the gut, worrying about his P's. ~ Kristin Cashore

Yes," Bitterblue said. "I suppose you could convert everything into minutes. Twelve times sixty is seven hundred twenty, and fifteen times fifty is seven hundred fifty. So our seven-hundred-twenty-minute half day equals its seven-hundred-fifty-minute half day. Let's see ... Right now, the watch reads a time of nearly twenty-five past two. That's one hundred twenty-five total minutes, which, divided by seven hundred fifty, should equal our time in minutes divided by seven hundred twenty ... so, seven hundred twenty times one hundred twenty-five is ... give me a moment ... ninety thousand ... divided by seven hundred fifty ... is one hundred twenty ... which means ... well! The numbers are quite neat, aren't they? It's just about two o'clock. I should go home. ~ Kristin Cashore

I've liked you better when Katsa's around,' Giddon said. 'She's so rotten to me that you seem positively pleasant in contrast. ~ Kristin Cashore

There was no helping her tears. For they would leave Po behind… She cried into his shoulder like a child. Ashamed of herself, for it was only a parting, and Bitterblue had not wept like this even over a death.

'Don't be ashamed,' Po whispered. 'Your sadness is dear to me. Don't be frightened. I won't die, Katsa. I won't die, and we'll meet again. ~ Kristin Cashore

Everybody was strange. In a fit of frustration, she scratched out strange and wrote the word CRACKPOTS in big letters. ~ Kristin Cashore

But that's how memory works," Bitterblue said quietly. "Things disappear without your permission, then come back again without your permission." And sometimes they came back incomplete and warped. ~ Kristin Cashore

And then Holt, the Queen's Guard, placed his maps on the desk, neatly so they would not fall, tipped Thiel over one shoulder, tipped Death over the other, and stood under his load. In the astonished silence that followed, Holt lumbered toward Runnemood, who, understanding, let out a snort and stalked from the room of his own accord. Then Holt carried his outraged burdens away on either shoulder, just as they got their voices back. Bitterblue could hear them screaming their indignation all the way down the stairs. ~ Kristin Cashore

Well then, "Katsa said. "Of course, we'll operate with the greatest possible secrecy, Bitterblue. And for what it's worth, we'll deny your involvement to our dying breaths, and I'll kill anyone who doesn't."
Bann began to laugh into Raffin's shoulder. Smiling, Raffin said sideways to him, "Can you imagine what it would be like to be able to say that and mean it? ~ Kristin Cashore

Find something useful to do with your morning,' she thought to him as she neared her chambers. 'Do something heroic in front of an audience. Knock a child into a river while no one's looking and then rescue him. ~ Kristin Cashore

Your face will freeze like that, you know, Kat," Raffin said helpfully to Katsa.
"Maybe I should rearrange your face, Raff," said Katsa.
"I should like smaller ears," Raffin offered.
"Prince Raffin has nice, handsome ears," Helda said, not looking up from her knitting. "As will his children. Your children will have no ears at all, My Lady," she said sternly to Katsa.
Katsa stared back at her, flabbergasted.
"I believe it's more that her ears won't have children," began Raffin, "which, you'll agree, sounds much less - ~ Kristin Cashore

Why would he try to ruin something so beautiful? What is the world he was trying, and failing to create?
What is the world Runnemood is trying to create? And why must they both create their worlds by destroying? ~ Kristin Cashore

Katsa and Po were trying to drown each other and, judging from their hoots of laughter, enjoying it immensely. ~ Kristin Cashore