Jan Van Eck Quotes

As he lay there, he sought some explanation for what had happened. Surely, Miggson and Prior were to blame; his father hadn't known. [...] As soon as he drew out the thick envelope, he knew his father was guilty. [...] His father hadn't even bothered with a convincing ruse. He'd known Wylan wouldn't try to read the papers. And that his gullible son would never think to suspect his father of lying. Pathetic. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Jesper gave his shoulder another little shake. "Well, how about this? Kaz is going to tear your father's damn life apart."
Wylan was about to say that didn't help either, but he hesitated. Kaz Brekker was the most brutal, vengeful creature Wylan had ever encountered--and he'd sworn he was going to destroy Jan Van Eck. The thought felt like cool water cascading over the hot, shameful feeling of helplessness he'd been carrying with him for so long. Nothing could make this right, ever. But Kaz could make his father's life very wrong. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Saints!" his father gasped. "This city is worse than the guidebooks said!"
"Da, it isn't the city," Jesper said, pulling the pistol from his coat. "They're after me. Or after us. Hard to say."
"Who's after you?"
Jesper exchanged a glance with Wylan. Jan Van Eck? A rival gang looking to settle a score? Pekka Rollins or someone else Jesper had borrowed money from? "There's a long list of potential suitors. We need to get out of here before they introduce themselves more personally. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Our hopes rest with you, Mister Brekker. If you fail, all the world will suffer for it."
"Oh, it's worse than that, Van Eck. If I fail, I don't get paid."
The look of disgust on the merch's face was something that deserved its own DeKappel oil to commemorate it.
"Don't look so disappointed. Just think how miserable you would have been to discover this canal rat had a patriotic streak. You might actually have had to uncurl that lip and treat me with something closer to respect."
"Thank you for sparing me that discomfort ~ Leigh Bardugo

In the space of a breath, Kaz had shoved Wylan against the tomb wall with his forearm, the crow head of his cane wedged beneath Wylan's jaw. "Tell me my business again." Wylan swallowed, parted his lips. "Do it," said Kaz. "And I'll cut the tongue from your head and feed it to the first stray cat I can find. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Try to imagine, Robert says, what it feels like when they release the bulls. The noise is incredible. Your whole body's shaking. It's like your heart's racing but standing still at the same time. And then, when the people around you start moving and you know the bulls are coming, it just gets worse and worse. You hear the bulls coming closer. You feel the ground shaking beneath your feet. And when you see that first bull and it's time to run, everyone starts screaming. You can't even think. All you can do is run as fast as your legs will carry you. ~ Jan Van Mersbergen

In theory, there's no difference between theory & practice, but in practice there is. ~ Jan L.A. Van De Snepscheut

Without suffering there is no struggle, without struggle no victory, without victory no crown." Maria van Beethoven (Beethoven's mom) ~ Jan Swafford

Van Eck keeps the seal in a safe?" said Jesper with a laugh. "It's almost like hewants us to take it. Kaz is better at making friends with combination locks than with people."

"You've never seen a safe like this," Wylan said. "He had it installed after the DeKappel was stolen. It has a seven-digit combination that he resets every day, and the locks are built with false tumblers to confuse safecrackers."

Kaz shrugged. "Then we go around it. I'll take expediency over finesse."

Wylan shook his head. "The safe walls are made of a unique alloy reinforced with Grisha steel."

"An explosion?" suggested Jesper.

Kaz raised a brow. "I suspect Van Eck will notice that."

"A very small explosion?"

Nina snorted. "You just want to blow something up."

"Actually…" said Wylan. He cocked his head to one side, as if he were listening to a distant song. "Come morning, there would be no hiding we'd been there, but if we can get the refugees out of the harbor before my father discovers the theft … I'm not exactly sure where I can get the materials, but it just might work.…"

"Inej," Jesper whispered.

She leaned forward, peering at Wylan. "Is that scheming face?"

"Possibly."

Wylan seemed to snap back to reality. "It is not. But … but I do think I have an idea. ~ Leigh Bardugo

My father used to take me everywhere with him."
"Until?"
"Until what?"
"Until. My father took me everywhere until I contracted terrible seasickness, until I vomited at a royal wedding, until I tried to hump the ambassador's leg."
"The leg was asking for it. ~ Leigh Bardugo

He didn't take her out of the city," she'd said, cheeks glowing with color for the first time since she'd emerged from her battle with parem . "It's obvious he's keeping her there."
But Kaz had simply gazed into the middle distance with that odd look on his face and said, "Too obvious."
"Kaz - "
"How would you like a hundred kruge ?"
"What's the catch?"
"Exactly. Van Eck's making it too easy. He's treating us like marks. But he isn't Barrel born, and we aren't a bunch of dumb culls ready to jump at the first shiny lure he flashes. Van Eck wants us to think she's on that island. Maybe she is. But he'll have plenty of firepower waiting for us too, maybe even a few Grisha using parem ."
"Always hit where the mark isn't looking," Wylan had murmured.
"Sweet Ghezen," said Jesper. "You've been thoroughly corrupted. ~ Leigh Bardugo

She took a shaky breath. The words came like a string of gunshots, rapid-fire, as if she resented the very act of speaking them. "I didn't know if you would come."
Kaz couldn't blame Van Eck for that. Kaz had built that doubt in her with every cold word and small cruelty. "We're your crew, Inej. We don't leave our own at the mercy of merch scum."
It wasn't the answer he wanted to give. It wasn't the answer she wanted. ~ Leigh Bardugo

What makes you think we can do this? There will be other teams out there, trained soldiers and spies, people with years of experience."
"This isn't a job for trained soldiers and spies. It's a job for thugs and thieves. Van Eck knows it, and that's why he brought us in. ~ Leigh Bardugo

It was a calculated risk."
"It was cross-your-fingers-and-hope-for-the-best. Believe me, I know the difference. ~ Leigh Bardugo

'I saw the light of your room through the bottom of the door,' said vice-admiral, 'the watchman told me he had seen you in the yard four o'clock in the morning. How many hours per day do you work?'
'It depends. Sometimes eighteen, sometimes twenty.'
'Twenty!' Uncle Jan shook his head, his face became even more concerned. Vice-admiral could not believe that there would be such a thickhead in Van Gogh family. ~ Irving Stone

Go on, Van Eck, threaten me. Tell me all the little things I am. You lay a finger on me and Kaz Brekker will cut the baby from your pretty wife's stomach and hang its body from a balcony at the Exchange. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Let's let the Ice Court know the Dregs have come to call. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Jan van Riebeeck's arrival in Cape Town was the beginning of all South Africa's problems. ~ Jacob Zuma

I guess we need to find a way to the quarry?" Jesper said.
Wylan coughed. "No we don't, just a general store."
"But you told Kaz the mineral - "
"It's present in all kinds of paints and enamels. I wanted to make sure I had a reason to go to Olendaal."
"Wylan Van Eck, you lied to Kaz Brekker." Jesper clutched a hand to his chest. "And you got away with it! Do you give lessons?"
Wylan felt ridiculously pleased - until he thought about Kaz finding out. Then he felt a little like the first time he'd tried brandy and ended up spewing his dinner all over his own shoes. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Until this moment, Wylan hadn't quite understood how much they meant to him. His father would have sneered at these thugs and thieves, a disgraced soldier, a gambler who couldn't keep out of the red. But they were his first friends, his only friends, and Wylan knew that even if he'd had his pick of a thousand companions, these would have been the people he chose. ~ Leigh Bardugo

The difference between theory and practice is larger in practice than the difference between theory and practice in theory. ~ Jan L.A. Van De Snepscheut

Drop heavy," Kaz shouted, and Wylan let loose with every rocket, flash bomb, and bit of demo he'd been able to fit into the boat. The sky above the Van Eck house exploded in an array of light, smoke, and sound as the guards dove for cover.
Kaz put his arms to work, feeling the boat slide into the current as they passed into the glittering traffic of Geldcanal.
"In and out without him ever knowing?" said Rotty. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Thoughts of moonlight and silken hair evaporated in a black bolt of fury. Kaz saw Inej tug on the sleeve of her left forearm, where the Menagerie tattoo had once been. He had the barest inkling of what she'd endured there, but he knew what it was to feel helpless, and Van Eck had managed to make her feel that way again. Kaz was going to have to find a new language of suffering to teach that smug merch son of a bitch. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I've had so many influences and sources of inspiration as an illustrator that it is impossible to name just one. I loved Aubrey Beardsley when I was a student, and then Edmund Dulac and other Golden Age illustrators made a big impact, as well as Victorian painters like Richard Dadd and Edward Burne-Jones. My long-term heroes though are Albretch Durer, Brueghel, Hieronymous Bosch, Jan Van Eyck, Leonardo, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Turner and Degas. What most of them have in common is brilliant draughtsmanship and a strong linear or graphic quality. Most are also printmakers. The one I keep going back to and who fascinates me the most is JMW Turner, the greatest watercolourist. ~ Alan Lee

Does this bother you, merchling?"
"I don't enjoy feeling like a thief."
"After everything he's done?"
"Yes."
"So much for righteous. You do realize we're stealing your money?"
"Jesper said the same thing, but I'm sure my father wrote me out of his will as soon as Alys became pregnant."
"That doesn't mean you're any less entitled to it."
"I don't want it. I just don't want him to have it."
"What a luxury to turn your back on luxury. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Where do think the money went?" he repeated.
"Guns?" asked Jesper.
"Ships?" queried Inej.
"Bombs?" suggested Wylan.
"Political bribes?" offered Nina. They all looked at Matthias. "This is where you tell us how awful we are," she whispered.
He shrugged. "They all seem like practical choices. ~ Leigh Bardugo

We can live in and from the Nature and these Will accept us.

Wij kunnen in en van de natuur leven en deze accepteert ons. ~ Jan Jansen

Do you want to beat Van Eck?" Kaz asked.

Nina blew out an exasperated breath. "Of course."

Kaz's eyes scanned the room, moving from face to face. "Do you? Do you want your money? The money we fought, and bled, and nearly drowned for? Or do you want Van Eck to be glad he picked a bunch of nobodies from the Barrel to scam? Because no one else is going to get him for us. No one else is going to care that he cheated us or that we risked our lives for nothing. No one else is going to make this right. So I'm asking, do you want to beat Van Eck?"

"Yes," said Inej. She wanted some kind of justice.

"Soundly," said Nina.

"Around the ears with Wylan's flute," said Jesper.

One by one, they nodded. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Pull your shirt up over your mouth," he told Wylan.
"What?"
"Stop being dense. You're cuter when you're smart."
Wylan's cheeks went pink. He scowled and pulled his collar up. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Alys Van Eck waddled along beside him. Her blindfold had been removed, and through his long glass, Matthias could see her lips moving. Sweet Djel, is she still singing? Judging from the sour expression on Kaz's face, it was a distinct possibility. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Why do you guys say that, anyway? No mourners, no funerals? Why not just say good luck or be safe?"
"We like to keep our expectations low. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Vile, ruthless, amoral. Isn't that why you hired Kaz in the first place? Because he does the things that no one else dares? Go on, Van Eck. Break my legs and see what happens. Dare him."
Had she really believed a merch could outthink Kaz Brekker? Kaz would get her free and then they'd show this man exactly what whores and canals rats could do. ~ Leigh Bardugo

If this was the plan, what was the point to trying to smuggle in those lockpicks?" Wylan asked.

Kaz folded his arms. "Ever hear about the dying man whose medik told him he'd been miraculously cured? He danced into the street and was trampled to death by a horse. You have to let the mark feel like he's won. Were the guards studying Matthias and wondering if he looked familiar? Were they looking for trouble when Jesper went into the showers with paraffin sloughing off his arms? No, they were too busy congratulating themselves on catching me. They thought they'd neutralized the threat. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Pick up the pace," Kaz said, eyeing his watch.
"If I spill a single drop of this, it will burn straight through the floor onto my father's dinner guests."
"Take your time. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Let us all say together: "We want to build a green economy strong enough to life people out of poverty. We want to create green pathways out of poverty and into great careers for America's children. We want this 'green wave' to life all boats. This country can save the polar bears and poor kids too. ~ Van Jones

I try to be as independent as possible. ~ Dries Van Noten

People have SMS, right? It stinks. It's a dead technology, like a fax machine left over from the Seventies, sitting there as a cash cow for carriers. ~ Jan Koum

I think it's a good idea to tie Peter Mandelson to a van. Such an act would be cruel and barbaric and inhuman. But it would at least cheer everyone up a bit. ~ Jeremy Clarkson

Culture is concerned with the world of values. All cultures are irreducibly value-oriented. ~ Henry R. Van Til

Art value always goes up once the artist's associated with fucked-up things such as cutting off his own ear like Van Gogh, or marrying his teenage cousin like Poe, or having his minions murder a celebrity like Manson, or shooting his postsuicide ashes out of a huge cannon like Hunter S. Thompson, or being dressed up as a little girl by his mother like Hemingway, or wearing a dress made of raw meat like Lady Gaga, or having unspeakable things done to him so he kills a classmate and puts a bullet in his own head like I will do later today. ~ Matthew Quick

My friend, the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, was murdered in 2004 for having been insufficiently reverent toward Islam. ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Van Gogh couldn't have painted
the stars in your eyes. ~ Nina Mouawad

His talking voice was amazing, but his singing was like honey ands smoke had hooked up in the back of a van at a rock concert and had a love child. Smooth and rough at the same time. ~ Chelsea M. Cameron

By the end of that first day, what I'd made was a big mess. But if chaos is a necessary step in the organization of one's universe, that I was well on my way. ~ Wendelin Van Draanen

I'm a fashion designer, not a shoe designer. I like to design clothes. ~ Dries Van Noten

We are far too used to the assumption that poetry and poets will be there when we want them, no matter how long they have been ignored, taken for granted, misused. After all, isn't poetry a form of prophecy, and aren't prophets known for their talent for flourishing in inhospitable deserts and other bleak surroundings? Maybe. But maybe not indefinitely. ~ Jan Clausen

HOW THIN IS the wall between us and madness? No one knows what it is made ~ Jan-Philipp Sendker

eerie patterns and lurid colors. Every few seconds ~ Eric Van Lustbader

We do it because we care. We care that Vincent Van Gogh mutilated his ear. We care that behind a pile of manure in the yard he destroyed his life. We care that Scott Joplin's music lives! We care because we know this: the life we save is our own. ~ Alice Walker