Cat Hellisen Quotes

Like all high-Lammers, I am a lucky accident of birth, gifted with a talent that can be expanded by something as simple as a mineral. A mineral unfortunately rare and extremely addictive. This - this dust - rules our lives. Sometimes I wonder if it would be better had there been no magic at all. ~ Cat Hellisen

He sits down on the edge of the bed. "I wanted to talk to someone who wasn't food or family." There's no humor in his thin smile. "I wanted to talk to someone who had enough courage to take what she wanted. ~ Cat Hellisen

None of them will believe me. I drop any attempt to explain myself and just gracefully accept that people are going to make assumptions and that the more I argue, the more it'll look like I'm trying to hide something. ~ Cat Hellisen

And this has nothing to do with your-" He waves one hand vaguely.

I raise a brow. "My what?"
"Your thing, your whatever."

"I have a great many things and whatevers," I tell him, one corner of my mouth twitching. "Which one would this be? ~ Cat Hellisen

After all, there is nothing quite like losing a parent to knock the childishness out of a person's spirit. ~ Cat Hellisen

Here is the last truth of Saints: We will always choose the path which brings us the most power.

I spread my arms, and let the wind tip me. ~ Cat Hellisen

Pelimburg is a city of rain and mist and spray. It's supposed to be my home, but a lifetime lived in my mother's cage of a mansion means that I barely know it. I've only ever seen the city from the confines of a carriage; now I breathe deep, tasting how different the air is, how sweet the drops feel on my tongue. Up on the hillside, the rain seems bitter and darker. ~ Cat Hellisen

I have always been of the type that rather than being improved by ornamentation, is left looking shorter and rounder. MallenIve style does me no favours. "I feel like an enormous idiot."

"Only you look rather like an enormous hand-bell. ~ Cat Hellisen

A strange moment when the world stayed exactly the same, and changed forever. ~ Cat Hellisen

"What if I told you that there is a bond in blood, that it's more than a Lammer's paper marriage, that it's about magic and death?"

I sigh. "I'd say you were being overly dramatic and that you should take up a permanent table at the Crake. ~ Cat Hellisen

Someone here died, I realize. Someone these people loved and cared for. I'm not the only person in the world tangled up in grief. ~ Cat Hellisen

My mother still deludes herself that the letters are written out of more than a desire to spend as little time in our company as possible. She likes to think he is still hers. ~ Cat Hellisen

No one I know has ever seen the matriarch of House Sandwalker, although she's rumored to be an imposing sort. For a bat. ~ Cat Hellisen

I pull my mostly dry shawl tighter around my shoulders and dip my head so that I don't have to look into their eyes and see the thoughts there.

Lammer-whore.

I am not this thing. I raise my head sharply, and with my chin jutted out I walk alongside Jannik, willing these Gris-damned bats to say something, anything. The anger waits inside me, cold and ready. Even I know it's just a façade. I'm so scared now that I have nowhere left to go. My armor is frost thin and just as useful. ~ Cat Hellisen

No matter what the results, it is my choices that define me. And I will fight for them, even when it seems that failure is inevitable. Perhaps most especially then. ~ Cat Hellisen

There will be whys - people gossiping and speculating as to what Meke-damned trial drove her to it. Whatever thoughts spurred her on, Ilven's not going to spill them now. And any ill luck that comes to Pelimburg now will be blamed on Ilven's dive, on the alchemy of falling girls and broken-glass sea. ~ Cat Hellisen

Are they the same reasons my mother had Owen? Me? Did we each think to improve on the generation that came before us, or did we just want to be certain that someone somewhere loved and needed us? I sniff. My mother discovered soon enough that a son's love is only for the length of a childhood. A daughter's is forever. It may be snarled up with resentment, but it goes deeper. Daughters will always eventually understand the mothers they thought they hated. ~ Cat Hellisen

Carefully, I arrange the teapot, the little white cup, and the sugar bowl before me like an army. Defense? Or attack? ~ Cat Hellisen

We're going to watch the sun set," he says. "I'm not sitting here any longer. Too much misery in this room. I need out."

Lils sneers. "And you want us to all traipse off to the garden and watch the sun set because you hate dealing with reality?"

"I can deal with reality perfectly well," he says back, grinning. "I just don't see why I should. ~ Cat Hellisen

She still wants to paint you, as far as I know."

"Oh, that." His shakes his head in bitter amusement. "It seems that I shall finally have my portrait done. You can put it up in the Pelimburg University along with the rest of your family's. That should stir a fire under them."

"My mother may well have an apoplexy."

"She probably deserves to have one. ~ Cat Hellisen

Then again, I've never been overly fond of rational thoughts. ~ Cat Hellisen

Sarah liked to think that night was the best time to work on staying silly and childish. Darkness always seemed more understanding about those sorts of things. More accommodating. Tonight ~ Cat Hellisen

If her death wakes something in the deep, then she will bring more shame down on her House with that one act than she could have accomplished in a lifetime of disobedience. They will hate her for it. I wonder if Lady Malker has already struck her daughter's name from the family tree. ~ Cat Hellisen

Witch-sign, they said. Little eddies, like miniature storms breaking the surface of the ocean. Witch-signs rise up in great numbers, last a few minutes, and then disappear. When the whirlpools are gone, all that's left is floating petals. Black sea roses.

Anomalies.

I'm not afraid. A queer chill settles into my bones, and I huddle, pulling my knees closer to my chest. What if Ilven's death really did raise something up out of the waters? But those stories Nala is talking about - they're just … fancies. There's no real truth to them, they're Hob tales. That's what our House crake taught me. Of course, Ilven always did find the old stories fascinating and told me how she secretly wished that they were still real, that there was more to magic than just the scriv-forced power of the Houses.

Oh Ilven. Bound now below the sea, caught in the kelp forests, nibbled at, her hair full of crabs and little ghost shrimp, a ghost herself. I choke on a sadness so sharp that it has sliced me in two. ~ Cat Hellisen

I grit my teeth and wonder if it would matter if I strangled Dash in his sleep. Or poisoned his tea. I wonder what his neck would feel like under my fingers. ~ Cat Hellisen

Dear Gris, if there's one thing I can't abide it's a bad poet. ~ Cat Hellisen

If all I can feel is the very fraying edge of their grief, then I do not want to think how dark the center must be. ~ Cat Hellisen

A going-away party. We dress things up with pretty words. My friend is not going on a pleasure jaunt, or a holiday upriver to see the ruling city of MallenIve. They are selling her off to some nameless man with arable land. They are selling her for caskets of wine. ~ Cat Hellisen

Before he can finish that sentence, I have my side dish in my hand, and without a moment's pause for thought I hurl it at his head.

The plate shatters just left of his ear and Harun jerks so hard in his seat he almost topples. He recovers, eyes narrowed. "Do refrain from smashing my crockery, Felicita. With the two of you as my guests, I shall soon have no tables, and then no porcelain."

I'm on my feet, my hands shaking. I can't believe I just threw a plate at Harun's fat head. Or rather, I can believe it. ~ Cat Hellisen

Every now and then one stands up and orates at length to the unfortunate crowd, after which he bows to their scattered applause. Personally, I think they'd be better served by plates broken over their heads than by hand-claps. ~ Cat Hellisen

Are you asking me if I fuck my food?" The words sound overly harsh in the darkness.

"I suppose I am. ~ Cat Hellisen

You are not one of the heroes in your fucking street operas," Dash shouts, his voice strangled. "You're not."

Verrel pauses and looks back. "And neither are you."

"I never bloody claimed to be. ~ Cat Hellisen

They really did you over," she says, after peering at my bruised face. "This way, we'll get you sorted out." She's not friendly, just abrupt and sharp, like she's dealing with another problem in her long day. ~ Cat Hellisen

If Pelimburg was a city of impossible times, MallenIve in summer is a pocket-watch. By three the clouds begin to gather low and black, rumbling ominously to each other as they convene, and within the hour, they release their downpour on the sweating city. A fat blob of rain splatters on the glass. Four o'clock, then. ~ Cat Hellisen

It's always easier when someone else make the hard choices. Right Love?


"I can't." I choke the words out.


"Well it ain't going to be me. You saw to that, you silly flick. ~ Cat Hellisen

I'm sorry.' The words fell out onto the table and flew away like dandelion seeds, never reaching him. ~ Cat Hellisen

Before, I would have been powdered and perfumed, my hair done in an elaborate style by the patient fingers of servants. The household crake would have written lines in my honor, my dress would have been new, and I would have been as beautifully turned out as glass sculpture from House Canroth. And as empty. ~ Cat Hellisen

I picture my mother's face when she must go out in public with Owen, the cold arrogant look she wears, as if the whole world is filth before her. It is an expression I've learned to copy well, and like all roles, if you can believe it, you can be it. I press my hands to my face and push, smoothing the worry and fear away. I'm better than them. Better than Owen, than Canroth Piers. They can never really control me because they cannot bridle my thoughts. ~ Cat Hellisen

Sarah had discovered that while she liked to ask questions in the hopes that someone or other could answer them, adults liked to ask questions they already knew the answers to. She wasn't sure why exactly that was, and had finally decided that as people grew older, the more important something was the easier it becomes for them to forget. They had to keep asking as a way to help them remember. ~ Cat Hellisen

Just because you are family doesn't guarantee you'll be friends. ~ Cat Hellisen

Just sleep here." At my sharp look he laughs. "I'll take the floor, and I'll get you to your job on time. I promise."

"You're full of promises." But the thought of sleeping in a soft bed with warm blankets is appealing. And I understand Jannik now. I'm his symbol of hope, his reason to believe that one day he too can throw off the shackles of his family. ~ Cat Hellisen

She is somewhat" - I search for an appropriate response - "imposing."

"I think you mean terrifying."

"That too. ~ Cat Hellisen

In the end, we make our choices on our own. And no matter how stupid they are, we have to live - or die - with what we've done. Sometimes choosing our moment of death is the only freedom we have left. ~ Cat Hellisen

It could be a true future that Ilven saw - she's a Saint after all.

Was. Was a Saint. ~ Cat Hellisen

If there's one thing my mother taught me, it is how to wear the perfect mask. Never show them what you're really feeling because that's how they hurt you. ~ Cat Hellisen

Seeing into the future is not a straight line. You are given the choice of a hundred paths through a treacherous swamp. Some will lead you safely onwards, others drown you, and sometimes it's hard to tell which is which," my mother says. ~ Cat Hellisen

Pull yourself together, Harun."

Jannik hangs back, watching me rampage through Harun's property.

"You're an evil cow of a woman," Harun slurs.

"It's barely ten in the morning," I snap back. "Is this how you plan to deal with what's happened – by wallowing in your own filth and drinking like a bloated old rake?"

"I was trying to," he points out. "And doing a damn fine job of it. ~ Cat Hellisen

He's twisting everything. He's killing himself, killing innocents so that he can have his Gris-damned revenge on my brother.

"This isn't about saving the Hobs," I hiss at him. "And it never was."

"No," he says, and he grins. His eyes are frightened, giving the lie to his cheer. "But I did always love a good spectacle. ~ Cat Hellisen

Sarah wondered if at night the trees dreamed of a time when they covered the world and the true kings were wild and wore crowns of horns and antlers. Even ~ Cat Hellisen

All futures are tinted by the way in which you choose to view them. ~ Cat Hellisen

Me and my insatiable curiosity. If there's any justice in the world, I was a very good cat in a past life. ~ Rhi Etzweiler

Sophie knew about power animals,everyone did ... Sophie thought she might be a cat, she liked cats a lot. ~ Michelle Tea

What do you want to do now?" he asked her.

"We should probably just kill ourselves," she imagined saying. ~ Kristen Roupenian

A nigger that ain't afraid to die is the worse kind of nigger for the white man. He can't hold that power over you. That's what I learned when I killed that cat. I got the power of death too. ~ August Wilson

Toad must have been very accustomed to traveling this way, balanced on the back rails of a rushing buggy, but Melena was not. She gripped the sides and white-knuckled the rails with her knapsack sandwiched between her knees. Hazel was clamped onto the roof, grinning like an alligator in the sun.
And Toad lounged like a cat. ~ M.L. LeGette

When I do a film that has nothing to do with Kurt Weill, then I am happy, I am on my own. But in a Kurt Weill work I am as nervous as a cat. A burden falls on my shoulders. I feel a crushing responsibility. ~ Lotte Lenya

Somebody needs to pet me, and I guess that somebody is me. My cat is busy sleeping. ~ Jarod Kintz

a cat has claws at the end of its paws, and a complex sentences has a pause at the end of its clause ~ Stephen King

In America, they have specialist mystery book stores with whole sections devoted to cat mysteries, golf mysteries, quilting mysteries. It's a hugely broad genre from the darkest noir to tales of a 19th-century vet who solves crimes, thanks to his talking cat. ~ Mark Billingham

When the tea is brought at five o'clock
And all the neat curtains are drawn with care,
The little black cat with bright green eyes
Is suddenly purring there. ~ Harold Monro

Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to learn to become what he is supposed to be. ~ Eric Hoffer

Her cat suit consisted of a very flattering black body stocking that revealed an enticingly curvaceous figure, complimented by cat ears and paws, and mascara whiskers. Up until now, I had always considered myself a dog person, but that was a preference I suddenly found myself questioning. ~ Michael Bowe

I've never doubted that you should be our leader. I've always believed that, ever since Firestar took you to the Skyrock to receive your nine lives. I challenged you, yes, so I could be sure of your conviction that you were doing the right thing. What SkyClan needs more than anything else is a leader who has faith in herself. Because only then could other cats have faith in her, too. ~ Erin Hunter

My dog is so old, she now has a lot of cats. ~ Dana Gould

I wanted to sit quietly in front of the window as the cat did. I wanted to show my excitement like the dog. ~ Amina Cain

The playful kitten, with its pretty little tigerish gambols, is infinitely more amusing than half the people one is obliged to live with in the world. ~ Sydney, Lady Morgan

I sat on the bed. I looked at the Rorschach blot. I tried to make it look like a spreading tree, shadows pooled beneath it, but it didn't. It looked more like a dead cat I once found, the fat, glistening grubs writhing blindly, squirming over each other, frantically tunneling away from the light. But even that isn't the real horror. The horror is this: in the end, it is simply a picture of empty meaningless blackness. ~ Alan Moore

How many days have I spent alone with my cat ... and when I say alone, I mean without a material being, for my cat is a mystical companion, a spirit. ~ Pierre Bonnard

You just go where your high-top sneakers sneak, and don't forget to use your head. ~ Cheshire Cat

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. ~ Eugene O'Neill

Catwoman has an awesome, iconic personality. It's a blast to write her. You get her; she's an archetype. You can just kind of put on the cat-suit. ~ Ann Nocenti

Dogs have their day but cats have 365. ~ Lilian Jackson Braun

Yoga talks about cat-pose, dog-pose, camel-pose, monkey-pose, bird-pose etc. Why there are so many animal poses? Animals release their emotions and tensions by movements based on their body sensations. But our amygdala in the brain is carrying the "fight or flight response"; it has forgotten the art of releasing the tensions. As human beings, when we are aware about the sensations, we can release that by aware, slow movements. If you do not give movements to the body parts, energy will be stuck and blood circulation will be disturbed. Gradually, that creates chronic physical and mental health problems. ~ Amit Ray

You could say that food is love. And to feel loved is to feel happy. ~ Jamie Cat Callan

I hated lying to my family.
I had no choice.
As a werewolf, the pack'd go apeshit if they found out I'd spent the last few months shagging a cat.

~Kyle Larsen ~ J.A. Belfield

Walter had never liked cats. They'd seemed to him the sociopaths of the pet world, a species domesticated as an evil necessary for the control of rodents and subsequently fetishized the way unhappy countries fetishize their militaries, saluting the uniforms of killers as cat owners stroke their animals' lovely fur and forgive their claws and fangs. He'd never seen anything in a cat's face but simpering incuriosity and self-interest; you only had to tease one with a mouse-toy to see where it's true heart lay ... cats were all about using people ~ Jonathan Franzen

What type of world are we living in, if we're destroying books? ~ Cat Winters

Ditched like an unwanted cat, worn-out tire, ugly blind date. ~ Dennis Vickers

I love doing eyes - my signature look is a cat eye. I think it's so feminine, and it reminds me of old Hollywood. ~ Mallory Jansen

You do that, and I take back every nasty thing I've ever said about you."
He grinned, his mood changing from serious to wicked in an instant. "Why? I'm all those things and more."
I shook my head. Ian was more proud of his depravity than anyone I'd met, but if he helped me pull Bones out from under four bespelled vampires and one demonically-enchanced vamp, I'd shower him with prostitutes and porn while swearing he was an angel. ~ Jeaniene Frost

These niggaz ain't thugs, the real thugs is the government.
Don't matter if you Independent, Democrat or Republican,
Niggaz politickin' the street, get into beef,
Start blastin' ... now a new cat is executive chief. ~ Talib Kweli

Of course, every cat is really the most beautiful woman in the room. ~ Edward Verrall Lucas

I'll buy you a blow-up doll. I'm sure my mate won't mind when I explain how hard up you are."
She didn't bother to punch him this time, just glared with promise of future retaliation. "Very funny. You wouldn't be laughing if you knew how sexually frustrated I am right now." [ ... ] "The last time was when that SilverBlade sentinel was in town for a communications meeting."
All amusement left Dorian's face. "You serious? That was months ago." A very long time to go without intimate touch. "Merce, that could get dangerous."
"I know. Do you think I don't know?" She thrust her hands through her hair. "Damn it Dorian! It's getting to the point where I'm starting to wonder if some of the wolves would be good in bed. [ ... ]
"Cat and wolf isn't a ... um ... normal combination."
"And Psy and cat is?" She made a face at him. "Yeah, yeah I know. Cat and wolf is strange." [ ... ]
"How about one of the Rats?" Dorian's eyes gleamed. ~ Nalini Singh

One day Mrs. Goodkind said,
'Pickles, you are not a bad cat.
You are not a good cat.
You are good and bad.
And bad and good.
You are a mixed-up cat.
What you need is a good home.
Then you will be good.' ~ Esther Averill

I hate cats."
Death's face became a little stiffer, if that were possible. The blue glow in his eye sockets flickered red for an instant.
"I SEE," he said. The tone suggested that death was too good for cat haters. ~ Terry Pratchett

Maybe the cat has fallen into the stew, or the lettuce has frozen, or the cake has collapsed. Eh bien, tant pis. Usually one's cooking is better than one thinks it is. And if the food is truly vile, then the cook must simply grit her teeth and bear it with a smile, and learn from her mistakes. ~ Julia Child

A wicked smile spread across his usually serious face. "Hi, my name is Shane Decker. I'm not much for chatter, so I'll get right to the point. I have some cue cards here telling me to describe my 'type,' but that's not me. I respect and love women. All types of women."
His voice rang with sincerity and Cat found herself leaning forward, literally on the edge of her seat.
"So if you think you're too tall and skinny but have a smile that makes people want to smile back? You're my type. Curvy and always trying to lose that last ten pounds, with a loud, bawdy laugh? You're my type. A little older than me, with some lifelines that look earned and the confidence that comes with age? My type. Life is short, and I want to spend it with someone who recognizes that, and takes happiness wherever they can find it. If you think I might be your type, send a message to Shane84, and we can meet for coffee. ~ Christine Bell

Nothing to finish? You wondered why sex with a vampire was such a big deal. I'm going to show you." He moved toward her, slowly, like a cat sneaking up on a bird. "Stamina." He stepped closer. "Multiple orgasms." Closer, and her mouth went dry. "Flexibility." Closer. Her skin flushed hot. "Strength." Closer. Her stomach did a flip-flop. "The ability to sense heat so we know what parts of the body are the most sensitive at the right time." Closer. A throbbing ache started low in her pelvis. "The ability to hear the slightest change in the tempo of your pulse so we know exactly how every stroke, kiss, and lick affects you." Oh. Dear. Lord. ~ Larissa Ione

The whites have always had the say in America. White people made Jesus white, angels white, the Last Supper white. If I threaten you, I'm blackmailing you. A black cat is bad luck. If you're put out of a club, you're blackballed. Angel's-food cake is white; devil's-food cake is black. Good guys in cowboy movies wear white hats. The bad guys always wore black hats. ~ Muhammad Ali

Cats aren't shirts that you buy at the store and then return if they don't fit. Nor are they a pair of shoes you can give away or toss out when you've outgrown them. While these comparisons may seem ridiculously obvious to you, the sad fact is that too many cat owners actually do view their cats that way. As a result, countless cats end up relinquished to shelters or just abandoned because they didn't meet their owners' expectations of the perfect cat. ~ Pam Johnson-Bennett

I am constantly mystified by what John ends up remembering… I just don't understand why he's able to hang on to information like that, while so many other more important memories evaporate.
Then again, I suppose so much of what stays with us is often insignificant. The memories we take to the ends of our lives have no real rhyme or reason, especially when you think of the endless things that you do over the course of a day, a week, a month, a year, a lifetime. All the cups of coffee, hand-washings, changes of clothes, lunches, goings to the bathroom, headaches, naps, walks to school, trips to the grocery store, conversations about the weather - all the things so unimportant they should be immediately forgotten.
Yet they aren't. I often think of the Chinese red bathrobe I had when I was twenty-seven years old; the sound of our first cat Charlie's feet on the linoleum of our old house; the hot rarefied air around aluminum pot the moment before the kernels of popcorn burst open. I think of these things as often as I think about getting married or giving birth or the end of the Second World War.
What is truly amazing is that before you know it, sixty years go by and you can remember maybe eight or nine important events, along with a thousand meaningless ones. How can that be?
You want to think there's a pattern to it all because it makes you feel better, gives you some sense of a reason why we're here, but there really isn't any. People look for God in thes ~ Michael Zadoorian

I would never quit on a book, even if it's awful. Once I start something, I believe in finishing it. The process of completing such a book will take me that much longer, but I wouldn't abandon it altogether. ("The IndieView," 2017) ~ Cat Ellington

The only way to live is to risk being unhappy...and I'd rather be unhappy with the person I loved than as contented as a cat by the fire. ~ Harry Haskell