Quotes from Lisa Tawn Bergren

My eyes shifted to the trickling river. Come spring, it would be ten times as wide and just as deep. On and on it went, rushing toward the distant horizon. Like time. Like life. Sometimes gently falling from one pool into the other, other times fast and cascading, and still other times narrowing into a funnel, a torrent of knots and waves.

We froze. Neither of us moving, simply staring at each other, wondering if the other was going to move first. You are, he whispered, uncommonly stirring. He closed his eyes then, as if he had to in order to break the bond between us, then lifted me to the saddle and stared at the ground as he guided my feet into the stirrups.

What could I do, to make the most of this day, whether I was in my own day, or this one? What amazing history was I seeing firsthand? Would I embrace it, instead of crying and whining? Was it in me to be grateful for my situation? Truly in me?

You are one of the wealthiest women of the city, Gabriella.' I smiled. Because like, two months ago, I was begging Mom to borrow thirty bucks for a sweater. Rich. I could get into that.

Okay, try this on for size, Tall, Dark and Handsome. I won't be born for almost seven hundred hundred years. How's that strike you?

If you both care for each other more than you care for yourself, your marriage will endure all.

If I live in fear of what might be, how can I truly live my life to the full in the present? And if I do not give myself to the day, to hope, to life, what do I miss?

If I wasn't so happy he was alive, I would've killed him.

I believe this country has already been painted by the hand of God. We can cover it over with our own creations, but it will merely mar what is already perfect

She glanced left and right, all wide-eyed and innocent. Innocent as a streetwalker.

I believe it is always possible to draw closer to our Lord, whether it be during times of suffering or during times of celebration. It is all life, and all of life comes from God.

Only one sort of man is worse than an Italian when it comes to their appetite for women." "Oh? And what is that?" "A Frenchmen.

You can't be any earthly good if your head is always in the heavens.

Loyalty is not loyalty unless one clings to it in the face of adversity. No?

fortes fortuna adiuvat," Marcello had said to his men. Fortune favors the brave, the bold.

I was hedging. I had no idea about what would happen if I told him something about the future. Like that Siena would face a plague within a few years. And that Florence would eventually rule them. What would happen if I let such things slip? All sorts of time/space continuum stuff might come crashing down. Or maybe it wouldn't. I should've watched more Star Trek as a kid.

We all belong to Him, from the cradle to the grave, whether we know it or not. And He'll see justice done in His own time and in His own way. Now if we trust in Him, that's all we have to think about. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm just saying it's what I think we're go do.

There is no place for fear, Ailith," Niero said, easily reading it in our faces. "Guard against it. The presence of fear denies the power of the Maker and invites the enemy to use it for his own purposes. And where the Maker sends us, we are to go in complete trust. We have been called." He put out his hand, using the leading phrase our trainer had always used. We all placed our hands atop his. "And we shall answer," we said as one.

Fear is not of the Lord. It is of the Enemy. Do not give in to it.

God," she said, her tone gently reproving, "brought Mr.Kensington to you, and with him, a world of potential. As I see it, each of our lives is a journey, Miss Cora. A path that takes us over the mountain or down through a dark valley. But He never abandons us. Never. That is how He cares for us - walking with us every step of the way.

Sometimes fear is something we must battle through. Other times it's something the Lord gives us to warn us to take heed.

Guys are just scared of beautiful girls, Dad said. Sure, Dad, I said. Only ugly girls go to dances. The right one will come around, he promised. You'll see.

I'd been brief with her, not wanting her to stress over me and Lia. I mean, she knew I'd narrowly escaped death in freeing Lia from Castel o Paratore, but she didn't know all of the details. That, like, I'd almost been killed a dozen times. You just didn't tell your mom that kind of thing—not if you were trying to keep her from rushing you off to some safe tower.

Life is not something we can manage or control. It's something we negotiate every time the path takes a turn.