Erika Johansen Quotes

Always, we think we know what courage means. If I were called upon, we say, I would answer the call. I would not hesitate. Until the moment is upon us, and then we realize that the demands of true courage are very different from what we had envisioned, long ago on that bright morning when we felt brave. ~ Erika Johansen

Love was a real thing, Aisa thought, but secondary. Certainly love was not as real as her sword. ~ Erika Johansen

Majesty. The word seemed to ripple through her. "I haven't been crowned, Lazarus." "No matter, Lady. I see the queenship in you, and I never saw it in your mother, not one day of her life. ~ Erika Johansen

Rulers who attempt to control an unwilling populace govern nothing, and often find their heads atop a pike to boot. ~ Erika Johansen

And if Tear's words can't be trusted, then who do we listen to? Yourself. The ~ Erika Johansen

The future was only disasters of the past, waiting to happen anew. ~ Erika Johansen

Beware the past, Kelsea. Be a steward. ~ Erika Johansen

The problems of the past.
How the problems of the past, uncorrected, inevitably became the problems of the future. ~ Erika Johansen

And Kelsea wondered suddenly whether humanity ever actually changed. Did people grow and learn at all as the centuries past? Or was humanity merely like the tide, enlightenment advancing and then retreating as circumstances shifted? The most defining characteristic of the species might be lapse. ~ Erika Johansen

Carlin often said that history was everything, for it was in man's nature to make the same mistakes over and over. ~ Erika Johansen

Kelsea didn't recognize the guard, but she knew his voice. After a moment she realized, bemused, that it was Dyer. He'd shaved his red beard.
"Dyer, is that your face under there?"
Dyer flushed bright red. Pen snorted gleefully, and Kibb clapped Dyer on the back. "I told him, Lady...now we can see every time he blushes. ~ Erika Johansen

Even small gestures of kindness have the potential to reap enormous rewards. Only the shortsighted man believes otherwise. ~ Erika Johansen

There's danger in the system of justice that makes no allowance for circumstance. ~ Erika Johansen

My responsibility, she thought, and the idea brought no fear now, only an extraordinary sense of gratitude.
My kingdom. ~ Erika Johansen

Pen will no longer be your close guard, Lady," Mace said flatly.
"What?"
"Starting tonight, Elston will take over Pen's duties."
Kelsea turned to stare at Pen, who in turn stared at the floor."
"What's happened?" she demanded.
"I'll give you two a few minutes, but only a few," Mace replied, speaking to Pen. "After that, you will not be alone together again."
Pen nodded, but Kelsea turned on Mace.
"You don't make changes to my Guard behind my back, Lazarus! I didn't ask for a new close guard. This isn't your decision."
"No, Lady," Pen said. "It's mine. ~ Erika Johansen

as always, the story was the compelling thing, worth all of its suffering to find out the ending ~ Erika Johansen

You think I don't care about my people, but I do... - The Red Queen ~ Erika Johansen

These people are so damned proud of their hatred! Hatred is easy, and lazy to boot. It's love that demands effort, love that exacts a price from each of us. Love costs; this is its value. ~ Erika Johansen

Once she was gone, Pen bowed and said, "Good night, Lady."
"You don't have to bow to me, Pen."
Humor sparked in Pen's eyes, but he said nothing, only bowed again before retreating into his anteroom and drawing the curtain. ~ Erika Johansen

An upset stomach was a small price to pay for fiction made real. ~ Erika Johansen

Corruption begins with a single moment of weakness. ~ Erika Johansen

Katie preferred honesty, even at the expense of civility. She longed to have everything in the open. ~ Erika Johansen

Few things are more dangerous to an egalitarian ideal than the concept of a chosen people, and the divide drawn by the early iteration of God's Church helped to exacerbate the many ideological faults that already underlay the landscape. When they chips were down, Tear's people were ready to turn on each other, and the fall of the Town was very quick, so quick that this historian wonders whether all such communities are not destined to fail. Our species is capable of altruism, certainly, but it is not a game we play willingly, let alone well ~ Erika Johansen

Are you my father, Lazarus?"
Mace's mouth twisted. "No, Lady. I wish I was. I wanted to be. But I am not. ~ Erika Johansen

Learn all the knowledge in the world, but your gut will always know best. ~ Erika Johansen

This is how women are trained to stay indoors, she thought, the idea echoing in her mind like a gravesong. This is how women are trained not to act. ~ Erika Johansen

The Tearling... I told them not to name things after me. - William Tear ~ Erika Johansen

Weakness, all the more dangerous for being combined with a sense of entitlement ~ Erika Johansen

Kelsea saw now that there was something far worse than being ugly: being ugly and thinking you were beautiful. ~ Erika Johansen

My final word is for the readers. The Tearling is not an easy world, I know. Contrarian that I am, I am determined to make thins kingdom echo life, where answers to our questions are not delivered neatly in a beautiful expositional package, but must be earned, through experience and frustration, sometimes even tears (and believe me, not all of those tears are Kelsea's). Sometimes answers never come at all. To all of the readers who stuck with this story, understanding and sometimes even enjoying the fact that the Tearling is a gradually unfolding world, full of lost and often confounding history, thank you for your faith in the concept. I hope that your patience was rewarded in the end. Now let's all go and make a better world." (Afterwords of the author) ~ Erika Johansen

Memory cut infinitely deeper than swords; ~ Erika Johansen

The mark of the true hero is that the most heroic of his deeds is done in secret. We never hear of it. And yet somehow, my friends, we know. - Father Tyler's Collected Sermons, FROM THE ARVATH ARCHIVE ~ Erika Johansen

Those who cease to worry about their souls often find them difficult to reclaim later ~ Erika Johansen

They had found the seven volumes of Rowling with no help at all, but there was no squabbling. ~ Erika Johansen

Stick with hard copies; they're harder to alter after publication. In the better world, there won't be any electronics at all. ~ Erika Johansen

You win your people or you lose your throne. ~ Erika Johansen

Not just a thief, but a murderer as well. Beneath the handsome man, Kelsea sensed another man, a terrible one, with a life as black as the water in an ice-covered lake. A murderer many, many times.
The idea should have brought horror. Kelsea waited for a long moment, bu what came instead was an even worse realization: it didn't matter at all. ~ Erika Johansen

I don't want to die, Arlen, but I would lay down my life for any of these men, or they for me. That's a real thing, sacrifice, but you will never understand it. ~ Erika Johansen

I missed you, Lazarus. More than I missed the sunlight, even. ~ Erika Johansen

Christ, let's go."
"Women shouldn't curse."
"Get fucked. ~ Erika Johansen

It's just … difficult."
"You've noticed the change in her, then."
"I never cared which face she wore."
"Ah. So this isn't new."
"No."
"That makes it worse, I think. ~ Erika Johansen

I see that you have a knife behind your back... You will drop your knife. - Ewen, to Brenna ~ Erika Johansen

It's a real thing, glory. But it pales in comparison to what we sacrifice for it. ~ Erika Johansen

Humanity would have to work for that society, and work hard, dedicating themselves to an unending vigilance against the mistakes of the past. It ~ Erika Johansen

You haven't forgiven me, Lazarus."
He remained silent.
"What did you expect me to do?"
"Tell us, dammit! I would have gone with you."
"Of course you would have, Lazarus. But I thought I was going to die. Why would I ask anyone to follow me there?"
"Because it's my job!" he roared, and his voice seemed to shake the timbers of the tiny space. "It's what I signed on for! The choice was mine, not yours! ~ Erika Johansen

Rape's a weapon of war. The women got over it. ~ Erika Johansen

She had been ready to kill Da, ready for years, but now she was amazed to find that she had done something even more difficult: she had spoken aloud. ~ Erika Johansen

Names made a thing real. ~ Erika Johansen

We're coming to the point where I may need to split my men to evade pursuit. If so, my choice of bodyguard for you will depend much on your won abilities."
"Well, I am a fast reader, and I know how to make stew."
Carroll nodded in approval "You've a sense of humor about all this, Lady. You'll need one. You're entering a life of great danger. ~ Erika Johansen

This, I think, is the crux of evil in this world, Majesty: those who feel entitled to whatever they want, whatever they can grab. Such people never ask themselves if they have the right. They consider no cost to anyone but themselves. ~ Erika Johansen

She looked at the land around her, the deep amber of the wheat cut by the yellow line of the road, and wished that she could make it a softer world. ~ Erika Johansen

The butterfly effect deals in the tendency of infinitesimal variations to amplify over time. ""You never play around with history, because the change you thought you were making for the better is likely to cause so many unforeseen ripples that it may well add up to a net loss. Too many variables to control the outcome. ~ Erika Johansen

Empathy. Carlin always said it was the great value of fiction, to put us inside the minds of strangers. Lazarus, ~ Erika Johansen

I'll govern for the good of the governed.
I'll make sure every citizen is properly educated and doctored.
I'll cease wasteful spending and ease the burden on the poor through redistribution of land and goods and taxation. ~ Erika Johansen

Your Majesty's rescuer said a true thing, and one that's stayed with me. Often the direct way is the right way, for reasons that can't be foreseen. ~ Erika Johansen

Vallee had taken an arrow in the knee from a sniper. ~ Erika Johansen

This country is diseased. The fortunate celebrate on the backs of the starving, the ill, the terrorised. The law affords no recourse to the disadvantaged. That's a historical sickness, and there's only one cure. ~ Erika Johansen

Shit," she muttered. She'd heard the word from her guard many times, but only now did she understand the real use of profanity. That one word said exactly what she was feeling, said it better than a hundred other words could have done. ~ Erika Johansen

I'm sober."
"That's not my concern. I know you'll never make that mistake again."
"Then what's your concern?" the younger man asked, his tone aggressive.
"You and her. ~ Erika Johansen

Everyone dies eventually. I think it's better to die clean. ~ Erika Johansen

If they want to walk around armed and build fences and let a church tell them what to do, let them wallow in it. ~ Erika Johansen

Fortune favors the bold, history tells us. Therefore, it behooves us to be as bold as possible. ~ Erika Johansen

Selfishness and self-destruction, riding hand in hand, as they so often did. ~ Erika Johansen

What of that woman you've found?" the Mace asked. "Does she offer no relief at all?"
Pen laughed without humor. "Ten minutes of relief, every time."
"We can find another shield, you know," the Mace told him. "Several of them are ready. Elston would jump at the chance."
"No. It would be a greater torment to be out of the room than in."
"You say that now, but think, Pen. Think about when she takes a husband, or even just a man for the night. How will you feel then, being right outside the door?"
"She may not take either. ~ Erika Johansen

Carlin always said that most men were dogs, and Kelsea had never taken her seriously; there were too many good books written by men. ~ Erika Johansen

It's all right lady," Pen murmured. "I won't let you fall. ~ Erika Johansen

Kelsea stared at it for a long moment, then turned to Pen.
"Go away."
"Lady - "
"What?"
Pen splayed his hands. "Things can't remain like this forever. We have to move past what happened."
"I have moved past it!"
"You haven't." Pen spoke quietly, but Kelsea heard the low hum of anger in his voice.
"It was a weak moment, and it won't repeat."
"I'm a Queen's Guard, Lady. You have to understand that."
"I understand that you're just like every other man in the world. Get out."
Pen's breath hissed through his teeth, and Kelsea was pleased to see real pain in his eyes for a moment before he retreated to his antechamber. ~ Erika Johansen

Tyler did not believe in hell. He had decided, long ago, that if God wanted to punish them, there was infinite opportunity right here; hell would be superfluous.
But if there was a hell on earth, Tyler had certainly found it. ~ Erika Johansen

I am Death. I come quickly, I come slowly, but I am not cheated. ~ Erika Johansen

The King of Cadare cannot have an alliance on an equal footing with a woman. Marriage ensures that Your Majesty is seen to submit her will to my master in all things."
Mace moved in sharply, blocking off Kelsea's right side. She blinked in surprise, for she had sensed no threat from the ambassador or his guards. It took a few moments for her to see it: Mace had actually moved to protect the ambassador. Some of Kelsea's anger ebbed away then; she smiled at Mace, and felt a rush of affection when he smiled back. ~ Erika Johansen

Hell? Hell is a fairy tale for the gullible, for what punishment could be worse than that we inflict upon ourselves? We burn so badly in this life that there can be nothing left. ~ Erika Johansen

Some people were simply broken, something inside them grown wrong and twisted. ~ Erika Johansen

When it fails, they do call it madness, Lazarus. But when it succeeds, they call it genius. ~ Erika Johansen

There's no other life for me. Anyway, clemency wouldn't begin to repay your debt. I've given you a greater gift than you know."
"What gift?"
"You'll find out. In return, I expect you to keep it safe."
Kelsea turned back to the mirror. "Great God, tell me you didn't impregnate me while I slept."
The fetch threw back his head and roared with laughter. He placed a friendly hand on Kelsea's back, making her skin prickle. "Tear Queen, you'll either be dead within a week or you'll be the most fearsome ruler this kingdom has ever known. I see no middle ground. ~ Erika Johansen

One night she'd stayed up until dawn reading a particularly long novel, and she had been allowed to skip her chores and sleep away most of the next day. ~ Erika Johansen

But even Carlin's words had no weight when fury washed over Kelsea; it was a tide that cleared all obstacles. ~ Erika Johansen

The hawk ripped out his jugular, spraying the morning sunlight with a fine mist of blood. ~ Erika Johansen

She was unable to keep silent, even when silence would save her trouble or pain. ~ Erika Johansen

Even a book can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and when that happens, you blame the hands, but you also read the book. ~ Erika Johansen

The mistake of utopia is to assume that all will be perfect. Perfection may be the definition, but we are human, and even into uopia we bring our own pain, error, jealousy, grief. We cannot relinquish out faults, even in the hope of Paradise, so to plan a new society without taking human nature into account is to doom that society to failure. ~ Erika Johansen

They're good, these stories," Mace continued, his cheeks stained with light color. "They teach the pain of others." "Empathy. Carlin always said it was the great value of fiction, to put us inside the minds of strangers. ~ Erika Johansen

Lady, if you don't wake up, I'm going to have you baptized. ~ Erika Johansen

Only a fool blames the dealer ~ Erika Johansen

I'm compelled to paint nearly every day. I just felt like making a painting, went out and bought paints and a canvas. Now it fulfills me creatively when I'm not doing music: it's something you can do by yourself and it's totally yours. It's a great adjunct to my life. ~ David Johansen

There are lots of people in the world who do have the advantage of going to a good drama school and just decide that they want to be actors. There's nothing wrong with an untrained actor; they have to get their training somehow, they have to learn. ~ Erika Slezak

A miracle is no less glorious for having previously happened ~ Erika Gardner

They said no one knew a man as well as a woman who slept with him. ~ Iris Johansen

Oh, God, I would love to go and do a play someplace. ~ Erika Slezak

If you don't know what you're looking for, it's not easy to look for it." Erika ~ Haruki Murakami

We knew that they would probably go after someone. ~ Jon Johansen

Young people are still looking and older people have found ... ~ David Johansen

Cynicism is a boring and dull old man's disease people have no business getting when they're young. ~ Erika Lopez

All over the world copyright holders are trying to limit consumers' rights. We cannot have that. ~ Jon Johansen

I've been around the block a couple of times, and the guy I am now is the guy I like to be. ~ David Johansen

I know if you hold on tight to faith and memories, they'll always be with you. ~ Roy Johansen

That's exactly what I'm telling you. And right now, I'm feeling in need of the firefighter part of him because he just freaking lit my body on fire with his damn orgasmic drumming. ~ Erika Taylor

Not longevity. Not peace. Not some chloroformed happiness. Not tranquility. They are all such common goals ... No. I want audacity. High color. Total independence. ~ Erika Robuck

It's really a drag to do the same project over and over again. ~ David Johansen

I've made choices in my life to be somewhat broke to do art and I think it is going to be the same thing with online exposure. You have to be able to make the choices that can make you happy or it will make you crazy. ~ Erika M. Anderson

To be entirely honest, I am an extremely confident person, and I don't think I would have gotten into this business if I felt that I wasn't going to succeed and I intend to be in this business, for the rest of my life. ~ Erika Christensen