Clan Macleod Quotes

Long ago, when faeries and men still wandered the earth as brothers, the MacLeod chief fell in love with a beautiful faery woman. They had no sooner married and borne a child when she was summoned to return to her people. Husband and wife said a tearful goodbye and parted ways at Fairy Bridge, which you can still visit today. Despite the grieving chief, a celebration was held to honor the birth of the newborn boy, the next great chief of the MacLeods. In all the excitement of the celebration, the baby boy was left in his cradle and the blanket slipped off. In the cold Highland night he began to cry. The baby's cry tore at his mother, even in another dimension, and so she went to him, wrapping him in her shawl. When the nursemaid arrived, she found the young chief in the arms of his mother, and the faery woman gave her a song she insisted must be sung to the little boy each night. The song became known as "The Dunvegan Cradle Song," and it has been sung to little chieflings ever since. The shawl, too, she left as a gift: if the clan were ever in dire need, all they would have to do was wave the flag she'd wrapped around her son, and the faery people would come to their aid. Use the gift wisely, she instructed. The magic of the flag will work three times and no more.
As I stood there in Dunvegan Castle, gazing at the Fairy Flag beneath its layers of protective glass, it was hard to imagine the history behind it. The fabric was dated somewhere between the fourth and seventh ~ Signe Pike

The unlikely group that resulted from the union of five diverse characters in their late twenties operated with surprising harmony. This cohesiveness could be attributed to two factors: 1) everyone's issues and embarrassing pasts were plainly disclosed prior to the gang's formation and 2) the clan had been expressly conceived as a male support group. ~ Zack Love

It is not enough for a population or a section of the population to have Christian faith and be docile to the ministers of religion in order to be in a position properly to judge political matters. If this population has no political experience, no taste for seeing clearly for itself nor a tradition of initiative and critical judgment, its position with respect to politics grows more complicated, for nothing is easier for political counterfeiters than to exploit good principles for purposes of deception, and nothing is more disastrous than good principles badly applied. And moreover nothing is easier for human weakness than to merge religion with prejudices of race, family or class, collective hatreds, passions of a clan and political phantoms which compensate for the rigors of individual discipline in a pious but insufficiently purified soul. Politics deal with matters and interests of the world and they depend upon passions natural to man and upon reason. But the point I wish to make here is that without goodness, love and charity, all that is best in us - even divine faith, but passions and reason much more so - turns in our hands to an unhappy use. The point is that right political experience cannot develop in people unless passions and reason are oriented by a solid basis of collective virtues, by faith and honor and thirst for justice. The point is that, without the evangelical instinct and the spiritual potential of a living Christianity, political judgment and politic ~ Jacques Maritain

I like to think that I am telling a story rather than writing it. ~ Alistair MacLeod

Writers write about what worries them. ~ Alistair MacLeod

You must rely on reason and science," she said, "and be guided by a likewise rational ethic of human concern. You must do your utmost as individuals to improve your understanding, ability and compassion. ~ Ken MacLeod

You're no better than Sharpclaw and Sparrowpelt. They look down their noses at us because we stay loyal to our housefolk as well as our Clan. I thought you were different, Leafstar, but I was wrong ~ Erin Hunter

Carlyle spread her hands. 'I speculated that it was the remains of the starship that took the Eurydiceans to the planet. This seems to have been borne out.' She smiled. 'It transmitted a defensive virus that contained Microsoft patches. ~ Ken MacLeod

All things are transient. Buddha says it is so, and Hock Seng, who didn't believe in or care about karma or the truths of the dharma when he was young, has come in his old age to understand his grandmother's religion and its painful truths. Suffering is his lot. Attachment is the source of his suffering. And yet he cannot stop himself from saving and preparing and striving to preserve himself in this life which has turned out so poorly.
How is it that I sinned to earn this bitter fate? Saw my clan whittled by red machetes? Saw my businesses burned and my clipper ships sunk? He closes his eyes, forcing memories away. Regret is suffering. ~ Paolo Bacigalupi

The world yearns. This is its sure gravity: the attraction of bodies. Earth for molten star. Moon for earth. A hand for the orb of a breast. This is its movement too: the motion of desire, of a longing toward. ~ Alison MacLeod

Dashrath spoke evenly, his voice reverberating even outside the royal tent. 'Rise, Ram Chandra, protector of the Raghu clan.' A ~ Amish Tripathi

Perhaps you have never watched people go raving mad or drop dead because of blood shortages." Crimson. Starlight. The taste of death. The nightmare tugged at her mind. Ishtaka fought back, focusing her gaze on The Blood Waster. "Perhaps, because of all this, you are not used to our ways. Let me remind you: My clan collects every last drop of blood. Every. Last. Drop." Her lips curled over her fangs. "Understood? ~ Hannah Heath

The Days were a clan that mighta lived long
But Ben Day's head got screwed on wrong
That boy craved dark Satan's power
So he killed his family in one nasty hour
Little Michelle he strangled in the night
Then chopped up Debby: a bloody sight
Mother Patty he saved for last
Blew off her head with a shotgun blast
Baby Libby somehow survived
But to live through that ain't much a life
- SCHOOLYARD RHYME, CIRCA 1985 ~ Gillian Flynn

The average clan - and there were more than fifty of them in 1745 - was no more a family than is a Mafia "family." The only important blood ties were those between the chieftain and his various caporegimes, the so-called tacksmen who collected his rents and bore the same name. Below them were a large, nondescript, and constantly changing population of tenants and peasants, who worked the land and owed the chieftain service in war and peacetime. Whether they considered themselves Campbells or MacPhersons or Mackinnons was a matter of indifference, and no clan genealogist or bard, the seanachaidh, ever wasted breath keeping track of them. What mattered was that they were on clan land, and called it home. ~ Arthur Herman

Would you like to see where I will build your house, m'lady?"
She grinned. "You mean our house?"
He mirrored her smile. "Aye."
Taking her hand, he led her along the path to the mouth of the River Coe. They stood on a curved peninsula high above the river where it would be free from floods. Hugh spread his arms wide and looked across Loch Leven. "The hills of Glencoe will be our backdrop, the river of the Coe will be our music, and our galleys will sail through the water of the Leven to Loch Linnhe and out to sea. Mark me, my love, Clan Iain Abrach will rebuild, and will once again rule these lands."
He looked into her eyes and saw joy there. "And you will be my queen. ~ Amy Jarecki

He didn't want just one morning with her, just one dawn breaking across the horizon. He wanted every dawn forever, every night, and the hours in between. ~ R.E. Butler

He faced Darktail. "You will take this Clan over my dead body." Delight sparked in Darktail's gaze. "That sounds fair." The rogue leader flung himself at Rowanstar. ~ Erin Hunter

Ah, how lucky are the lieutenants, the six-foot Junkers, and all the rest of the Don Juan clan! ... The bookworm, be he ever so decent and clever, is really only pleasing to himself and a small handful of others. The world passes him by and beckons to life and beauty ... to gay and handsome creatures to whom the hearts of their fellow men continue to turn. ~ Theodor Fontane

This is not my Clan. Not any longer. ThunderClan is led by a kittypet, and there's nothing left to fight for. I feel no loyalty to ThunderClan. In the whole forest, the only cat worth following is Tigerstar. ~ Erin Hunter

He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. "Are you certain your clan will allow us to marry?"
She dried her eyes. "Aye, I believe they will." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "After all, you have compromised me."
He sent her a broad grin. "Aye, and I cannot wait to do that again, m'lady. ~ Vonda Sinclair

I assume the closest members of my family don't actually want to kill me, but the truth is that I have shamed and hurt them; they have to deal with the outrage that my public statements cause, and undoubtedly some members of my clan do want to kill me for that. ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Her pelt prickling with frustration, Hollykit pushed her way through the brambles and raced back to the nursery. She had just discovered how she wanted to serve her Clan, how to make sure that what she did really mattered. She wanted to be the next ThunderClan medicine cat! ~ Erin Hunter

Glen Shiel, Socttish Highlands, 1296
Strife abounds. King Edward of England has invaded the southern strongholds of Scotland and is pressuring King John of Scotland to abdicate. Several Scottish nobles, called Claimants, vie for his throne. The Cause divides the country, as each clan must choose and support a Claimant. Many contenders seek fortune and power, but a few seek Scotland's independence. Only by a great force can this be achieved. However, the road to independence is fraught with those that wish to see the Cause crushed, at any cost. ~ Jean M. Grant

Software development was insecurities all the way down. Even ~ Ken MacLeod

Those who belong to the clan of achievers live the idea that inspires them to dedicate their existence, efforts, and soul to its execution. ~ Prem Jagyasi

I knew from the beginning it was hopeless, but it's possible to love without hope. ~ Ken MacLeod

I've missed you, Jas. You have no idea," he continued, reaching toward me again but stopping short of touching me. "I thought about you every damn day. All I wanted was to get back to you and the clan. But mostly you. Always you. ~ Jennifer L. Armentrout

trouble was bound to come. The whole family stood together, praying to avert the destruction that awaited them. "Let us all be united in this hour of trouble about to befall upon us," echoed Tara, one of the members of the shifter clan. ~ Rosalie Young

Ayla should have been the son of my mate. Brun to Broud, Clan of the Cave Bear. ~ Jean M. Auel

Every sacrifice I make is for the good of my Clan - and for the other Clans around the lake. Even if that means sacrificing myself. ~ Erin Hunter

She heard someone coming up the stairs and tried to step away from him, but he held her tightly. "You don't need to hold me in place I am not going to bolt." "Is that the only greeting I am to receive from ye?" He loosened his hold, but he did not release her. "Is there no warm and welcoming kiss awaiting me?" Laughter danced in her eyes. "I thought about grabbing you by the hair and dragging you off to my lair, but I was afraid the clan would frown upon that. It has been only two days since I saw you last. What did you want me to do, rush out and greet you with a kiss in the courtyard in front of everyone?" His look sent a ripple of desire through her. "Aye, 'twould not bother me, for everyone will know soon enough that ye are my… that ye are mine." He released her arm. "Ye will sit with me in the hall tonight ." – Isobella Douglas & Alysandir Mackinnon ~ Elaine Coffman

I hold Sandstorm in higher esteem than I do almost any other Clan cat. She has traveled far from the days when she and Dustpaw tormented Rusty the kittypet. I hope Firestar appreciates her journey as much as she deserves. ~ Erin Hunter

And so Mr. Brown came to be respected even by the clan, because he trod softly on its faith. ~ Chinua Achebe

We stood and watched as the clan ran ahead of us into the valley that would become our home. Jafir pressed his hand to the small mound growing in my belly and smiled. Our hope. "We have been blessed by the gods," he said. "The cruelties of the world are behind us now. Our child will never know them." I ~ Mary E. Pearson

There's an immense dramatic possibility in describing that universe. The books, for me, were an enormous relief in that sense of how they were written to allow primary emotion, elemental emotion, to matter enormously but to give the thing an extraordinary flow so you don't notice at what point that you're actually overwhelmed by this. There's no showiness, at all. It's the opposite of showiness. I think, if it was a painting, it could be very grey abstract, almost, with some lines and very, very beautiful. But you wouldn't have a notion of where the beauty was.
(Talking about the short stories of Alistair MacLeod, who he discovered while working on The Modern Library.) ~ Colm Toibin

Stonetooth took his place. "I give you a life for duty," he meowed. "Remember what you owe to your Clan as well as what your Clan owes to you." He touched noses with Brokentail, who flexed his claws briefly and then was still. ~ Erin Hunter

Not until her parents came to visit did the McGraw clan, Caleb included, learn that Snow's father was half black, landing Snow squarely and immediately in the undesirable category. ~ Terri Osburn