Kvothe Quotes

THE NAME OF THE WIND marks the debut of a writer we would all do well to watch. Patrick Rothfuss has real talent, and his tale of Kvothe is deep and intricate and wondrous. ~ Terry Brooks

Still, these days when I daydream about the movie, I don't think about the big picture. It's more fun for me to think of little things that would add to the movie. I like to think the powers that be would let me amuse myself with some small things in order to shut me up while they re-write the screenplay to turn Kvothe into a lesbian, shape-changing unicorn.
~ Patrick Rothfuss

Wilem: 'What is the word for that here? A man who is intimate with both women and men?'
'Lucky?' Denna suggested. 'Tired? Ambidextrous?'
'Ambisextrous,' I corrected. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Kvothe continued, smiling himself "I see you laugh. Very well, for simplicity's sake, let us assume I am the center of creation. In doing this, let us pass over innumerable boring stories: the rise and fall of empires, sagas of heroism, ballads of tragic love. Let us hurry forward to the only tale of any real importance." His smile broadened. "Mine. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Kvothe shook his head. No. It began at the University. I went to learn magic of the sort they talk about in stories. Magic like Taborlin the Great. I wanted to learn the name of the wind. I wanted fire and lightning. I wanted answers to ten thousand questions and access to their archives. But what I found at the University was much different than a story, and I was much dismayed. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Chronicler wiped the nib of his pen clean, "It's not really my place to comment on the story," he said placidly. "If you say you saw a dragon ... " He shrugged. Kvothe gave him a profoundly disappointed look. "This from the author of The Mating Habits of the Common Draccus? This from Devan Lochees, the great debunker?" "This from Devan Lochees who agreed not to interrupt or change a single word of the story he is recording." Chronicler lay his pen down and massaged his hand. "Because those were the only conditions under which he could get access to a story he very much desired. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Kvothe, Defend yourself well at the University. Make me proud. Remember your father's song. Be wary of folly. Your friend, Abenthy. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Apology now is of little consequence," she said, her voice flat and chill as slate. "Anything you say at this point cannot be trusted. You know I am well and truly angry, so you are in the grip of fear.
"This means I cannot trust any word you say, as it comes from fear. You are clever, and charming, and a liar. I know you can bend the world with your words. So I will not listen."
"Vashet to Kvothe ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Kvothe looked at Bast for a long moment. "Oh Bast," he said softly to his student. His smile was gentle and sad. "I know what sort of story I'm telling. This is no comedy."
"This is the end of the story, Bast. We all know that." Kvothe's voice was matter-of-fact, as casual as if he were describing yesterday's weather. "I have led an interesting life, and this reminiscence has a certain sweetness to it. But ... "
Kvothe drew a deep breath and let it out gently. " ... but this is not a dashing romance. This is no fable where folk come back from the dead. It's not a rousing epic meant to stir the blood. No.
We all know what kind of story this is. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Chronicler picked up his pen, but before he could dip it, Kvothe held up a hand. Let me say one thing before I start. I've told stories in the past, painted pictures with words, told hard lies and harder truths. Once, I sang colors to a blind man. Seven hours I played, but at the end he said he saw them, green and red and gold. That, I think, was easier than this. Trying to make you understand her with nothing more than words. You have never seen her, never heard her voice. You cannot know. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

You are unmannerly,sharp-tounged, and show no respect for your betters,which is practically everyone given your lowly ravel birth."
"I am Edema Ruh to my bones.
That means my blood is red.
It means I breathe the free air and walk where my feet take me.
I do not cringe and fawn like a dog at a man's title.
That looks like pride to people who have spent their lives cultivating supple spines"
-Kvothe ~ Patrick Rothfuss

It's easy to forget when you're around." She stopped walking for a moment and I had to stop too, as she'd linked her arm in mine. "That's not right. I mean to say that when you're around, it's easy to forget."
"Forget what?"
"Everything," she said, and for a moment her voice wasn't quite as playful. "All the bad parts in my life. Who I am. It's nice to be able to take a vacation from myself every once in a while. You help with that. You're my safe harbor in an endless, stormy sea. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Maple. Maypole
Catch and carry.
Ash and Ember.
Elderberry.
Woolen. Woman.
Moon at night.
Willow. Window.
Candlelight.
Fallow farrow.
Ash and oak.
Bide and borrow.
Chimney smoke.
Barrel. Barley.
Stone and stave.
Wind and water.
Misbehave. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

This isn't the hand of some swooning princess who sits tatting lace and waiting for some prince to save her. This is the hand of a woman who would climb a rope of her own hair to freedom, or kill a captor ogre in his sleep. And this is the hand of a woman who would have made it through the fire on her own if I hadn't been there. Singed perhaps, but safe. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Close your mouth, E'lir Kvothe, or I will feel obliged to put some vile tonic in it. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

The Lethani is the same everywhere," she said firmly. "It is not like the wind, changing from place to place."
"The Lethani is like water," I responded without thinking. "It is itself unchanging, but it shapes itself to fit all places. It is both the river and the rain."
She glared at me. "Who are you to say the Lethani is like one thing and not another?"
"Who are you to do the same? ~ Patrick Rothfuss

When necessity demands it, I'm an excellent liar. Not the noblest of skills, but useful. It ties closely to acting and storytelling, and I learned all three from my father, who was a master craftsman. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Ambrose turned on his heel and stormed off, but before he made it through the door, Elodin burst out singing:

'He's a well-bred ass, you can see it in his stride!
And for a copper penny he will let you take a ride! ~ Patrick Rothfuss

I knew it to be good advice, and ignored it ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Wilem tapped Simmon's shoulder."He's telling the truth."
Simmon glanced over at him."Why would you say that?"
"He sounds more sincere then that when he lies. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Vashet: "I will admit, I've never had a studen offer himself up for a vicious beating in order to prove he's worth my time."
Kvothe: "That was nothing. Once I jumped off a roof. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

And it was a secret thing, of sorts. I have always had a weakness for secrets. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Wilem snorted."That doesn't sound suspicious at all," he said. "And you wonder why people talk about you."
"I don't wonder why they talk," I said "I wonder what they say. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

She washed he hands,then looked at my side. "you haven't even had it stitched?" She said incredulously.
"I've been rather busy," I said. "With the running like hell and hiding all night. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

After an awkward pause, Bast extended his hand. Chronicler hesitated for a bare moment before reaching out quickly, as if he were sticking his hand into a fire.
Nothing happened, both of them seemed moderately surprised.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Kvothe addressed them bitingly. "Five fingers and flesh with blood beneath. One could almost believe that on the other end of that hand lay a person of some sort. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

I have, of course, been called many other things. Most of them uncouth, although very few were unearned ~ Patrick Rothfuss

In closing, she advised me to drink more water, get some sleep, and suggested that in the future I refrain from strenuous physical activity in a hot room the day after falling off a roof. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

So rather than risk saying the wrong thing, I said nothing. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

How would you open my chest if you had a mind to?"
Bast's expression grew slightly apprehensive. "Your thrice-locked chest, Reshi?"
Kvothe looked at his student, the laughter bubbled up out of him. "My what?" he asked incredulously.
Bast blushed and looked down. "That's just how I think of it," he mumbled.
"As names go ... " Kvothe hesitated, a smile playing around his mouth. "Well it's a little storybook, don't you think?"
"You're the one who made the thing, Reshi," Bast said sullenly. "Three locks and fancy wood and all that. It's not my fault if it sounds storybook."
Kvothe leaned forward and rested an apologetic hand on Bast's knee. "It's a fine name, Bast. Just caught me off my guard is all." He leaned back again. "So. How would you attempt to plunder the thrice-locked chest of Kvothe the Bloodless? ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Auri hopped down from the chimney and skipped over to where I stood, her hair streaming behind her. "Hello Kvothe." She took a half-step back. "You reek."
I smiled my best smile of the day. "Hello Auri," I said. "You smell like a
pretty young girl."
"I do," she agreed happily.
She stepped sideways a little, then forward again, moving lightly on the balls of her bare feet. "What did you bring me?" she asked.
"What did you bring me?" I countered.
She grinned. "I have an apple that thinks it is a pear," she said, holding it up. "And a bun that thinks it is a cat. And a lettuce that thinks it is a lettuce."
"It's a clever lettuce then."
"Hardly," she said with a delicate snort. "Why would anything clever think it was a lettuce?"
"Even if it is a lettuce?" I asked.
"Especially then," she said. "Bad enough to be a lettuce. How awful to think you are a lettuce too." She shook her head sadly, her hair following the motion as if she were underwater.
I unwrapped my bundle. "I brought you some potatoes, half a squash,
and a bottle of beer that thinks it is a loaf of bread."
"What does the squash think it is?" she asked curiously, looking down at it. She held her hands clasped behind her back
"It knows it's a squash," I said. "But it's pretending to be the setting sun."
"And the potatoes?" she asked.
"They're sleeping," I said. "And cold, I'm afraid."
She looked up at me, her eyes gentle. "Don't be afrai ~ Patrick Rothfuss

So," Chronicler said. "Subjunctive mood." "At best," Kvothe said, "it is a pointless thing. It needlessly complicates the language. It offends me. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

It is easier to understand if you think of it in terms of music. Sometimes a man enjoys a symphony. Elsetimes he finds a jig more suited to his taste.
The same holds true for lovemaking. One type is suited to the deep cushions of a twilight forest glade. Another comes quite naturally tangled in the sheets of narrow beds upstairs in inns. Each woman is like an instrument, waiting to be learned, loved, and finely played, to have at last her own true music made.
Some might take offense at this way of seeing things, not understanding how a trouper views his music. They might think I degrade women. They might consider me callous, or boorish, or crude.
But those people do not understand love, or music, or me. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

It's the questions we can't answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he'll look for his own answers. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

There's no good story that doesn't touch the truth. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

I even started a few rumors that were pure nonsense, lies so outrageous that people would repeat them despite the fact that they were obviously untrue.
I had demon blood in me.
I could see in the dark.
I only slept an hour each night.
When the moon was full I would talk in my sleep, speaking a strange language no one could understand. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

You know that feeling when you tip your chair too far and begin to fall backward? The sensation was something like that, mixed with self recrimination and the fear of death. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

I wasn't entirely surprised to find Elodin on Stonebridge. Very little about the Master Namer surprised me these days. He sat on the waist-high stone lip of the bridge, swinging his bare feet over the hundred-foot drop to the river below.
"Hello Kvothe," he said without turning his eyes from the churning water.
"Hello, Master Elodin," I said. "I'm afraid I'm going to be leaving the University for a term or two."
"Are you really afraid?" I noticed a whisper of amusement in his quiet, resonant voice. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

You," I said, "are sweet music in a distant room. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Where do you think stories come from, E'lir Kvothe? Every tale has deep roots somewhere in the world. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Blackened body of God" Sim said,using stronger language than I'd ever heard from him before'
"Kvothe,you're alive. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Stories don't need to be new to bring you joy. Some stories are like familiar friends. Some are dependable as bread. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

I can't give you the moon," the tinker said. "She doesn't belong to me. She belongs only to herself. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Auri took it, and peered inside the small leather sack. "Why this is lovely, Kvothe. What lives in the salt?" Trace minerals, I thought. Chromium, bassal, malium, iodine ... everything your body needs but probably can't get from apples and bread and whatever you manage to scrounge up when I can't find you. "The dreams of fish," I said. "And sailor's songs. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

I was wondering, Auri. Would you mind showing me the Underthing?"
Auri looked away, suddenly shy. "Kvothe, I thought you were a gentleman," she said, tugging self-consciously at her ragged shirt. "Imagine, asking to see a girl's underthing." She looked down, her hair hiding her face.
I held my breath for a moment, choosing my next words carefully lest I startle her back underground. While I was thinking, Auri peeked at me through the curtain of her hair.
"Auri," I asked slowly, "are you joking with me?"
She looked up and grinned. "Yes I am," she said proudly. "Isn't it wonderful? ~ Patrick Rothfuss

We can't do anything but snap at each other," I said. "The masters made sure of that. Anything too extreme would get us expelled for Conduct Unbecoming a Member of the Arcanum. Why do you think I haven't made his life a hell?"
"You're lazy?" Wil suggested. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

Now," Kvothe said angrily, "you've both acted understandably, but that does not by any means mean that either of you have behaved well. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. This is rare and pure and perfect. ~ Patrick Rothfuss

I briefly entertained the notion that I was insane and didn't know it. Then I considered the possibility that I had always been insane, acknowledged it as more likely than the former, then pushed both thoughts from my mind.. ~ Patrick Rothfuss