Ivans Quotes

He entered the house quickly, pushed past the detectives, and clasped both of Alexandria's hands in his.
Something deep within Aidan coiled dangerously at the sight of her hands in Thomas Ivan's. His breath stopped. His heart ceased to beat. The demon within stirred and roared for release, fangs exploded into his mouth, and the red haze of the beasts flamed in his eyes. As Thomas leaned in close, intending to kiss her cheek, Aidan fought for control so that he could casually wave a hand, directing a flurry of dust spores to whirl and dance beneath Ivan's nose. As Ivan inhaled, he began to sneeze violently, the spasms wracking his entire body. ~ Christine Feehan

I read Ivan's messages over and over, thinking about what they meant. I felt ashamed, but why? Why was it more honorable to reread and interpret a novel like Lost Illusions than to reread and interpret some email from Ivan? Was it because Ivan wasn't as good a writer as Balzac? (But I thought Ivan was a good writer.) Was it because Balzac's novels had been read and analyzed by hundreds of professors, so that reading and interpreting Balzac was like participating in a conversation with all these professors, and was therefore a higher and more meaningful activity than reading an email only I could see? But the fact that the email had been written specifically to me, in response to things I had said, made it literally a conversation, in the way that Balzac's novels - written for a general audience, ultimately in order to turn a profit for the printing industry - were not; and so wasn't what I was doing in a way more authentic, and more human? ~ Elif Batuman

He's fucking stone cold deadpan. His pan is so dead he could lay it in a casket and bury it at Bellevue. They made a movie about him once: Dawn of Ivan's Pan. ~ Charlotte Stein

Aidan's hands itched to strangle the woman. He had known Marie from the moment of her birth - sixty two years ago - and they had never exchanged a cross word. And he suddenly wanted to strangle her. He should have ripped Ivan's throat out. Flowers. Why hadn't he thought of flowers? Why hadn't Marie mentioned it to him first? Why had she accepted them? Whose side was she on, anyway? Flowers! He had the urge to rip those petals off one by one.
"Look," Marie cooed, "he even had the thorns removed so you wouldn't hurt yourself. What a thoughtful man."
"What time did you tell the police we would see them?" Aidan interrupted, afraid that if he didn't he would erupt into violence. He detested the way Alexandria kept caressing the petals of one of the white roses. ~ Christine Feehan

But as she watched Lito and Papi lift up Ivan's body, the empty place inside got bigger and bigger, until she was more empty than full. ~ Alan Gratz

In her mind danced the image of a shark with Thomas Ivan's white, practiced smile.
Deliberately, Aidan teased her with the image until she was forced to laugh. ~ Christine Feehan

I don't think - "

"Clearly. Why start now?"

Ivan's face flushed in anger. "You don't - "

Sturmhond leaned in close, the laughter gone from his voice, his easy demeanor replaced by something with a sword's edge. "I don't care who you are on land. On this ship, you're nothing but ballast. Unless I put you over the side, in which case you're shark bait. I like shark. Cooks up tough, but it makes for a little variety. Remember that the next time you have a mind to threaten anyone aboard this vessel." He stepped back, his jolly manner restored. "Go on now, shark bait. Scurry back to your master."

"I won't forget this, Sturmhond," Ivan spat.

The captain rolled his eyes. "That's the idea. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Have you talked to her recently?"

I shook my head. "You?"

"No." He turned around and took a step forward just as he made it to the counter. Over his shoulder, he asked, "Did you not tell her we're partners then?"

Shit. "No." I paused. I had assumed he would. "You haven't told her either?"

"No."

"Your parents?"

"They're in Russia. I haven't spoken to them since worlds. Mother has sent me a few picture messages, but that's been all our communication."

Double shit. "I thought you would have told them."

"I thought you would have told Karina."

"I don't talk to her as much as I used to. She's busy with medical school."

I could only manage to see the back of Ivan's head as he nodded, slowly and thoughtfully, like he was thinking the same thing I was. And his next words confirmed it. "She's going to kill us."

Because she was. She sure as fuck was.

"Call her and tell her," I tried to throw it on him.

"You call and tell her," he scoffed, not looking at me.

I poked him in the back. "She's your sister."

"She's your only friend."

"Asshole," I muttered. "Let's flip a coin to see who should do it."

That time he did glance at me. "No."

No. Ass.

"I'm not doing it."

"Me neither."

"Don't be a pussy and do it," I hissed, trying to keep my voice low.

His snic ~ Mariana Zapata

To understand what was in Ivan's mind, one has to think back to what the world was like before Machiavelli. The modern calculus of profit and loss probably meant nothing to Ivan. He never thought about realpolitik. His concerns were with tradition and posterity, history and fame, apocalypse and eternity. ~ Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

The title 'Lord of All-Rus' did not possess much basis either in history or in current reality. It came into the same category as that whereby the kings of England laid claim to France. In the 1490s, two-and-a-half centuries after all traces of a united Kievan Rus' had been destroyed, it had the same degree of credibility that the king of France might have enjoyed if, in his struggle with the German Empire, he had proclaimed himself 'Lord of all the Franks'. By that time, it conflicted with the separate identity that the 'Ruthenes' of Lithuania had assumed from the 'Russians' of Moscow. Indeed, it all seemed sufficiently unreal for the Lithuanians to accept it as a small price to pay for Ivan's good humour. They were not to know it, but they were conceding the ideological cornerstone of territorial ambitions that would be pursued for 500 years. ~ Norman Davies

Miles wanted to snap out a sharp rejoinder, but shivered instead. I miss Bothari, too. He had almost forgotten how much, till Ivan's words hit the scar of his regret, that secret little pocket of anguish that never seemed to drain. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold