Quotes from Naomi Novik

I hated her; I wanted her to burn, the way so many of the corrupted had burned, because she'd put her hold on them. But wanting cruelty felt like another wrong answer in an endless chain.

All shall love me and despair,' " I said. She was eyeing me very dubiously. "Galadriel? In Lord of the Rings?

He held his hand out to me across the table. It was harder to take it this time, to make that deliberate choice, without the useful distraction of desperation.

There are men who are wolves inside, and want to eat up other people to fill their bellies. That is what was in your house with you, all your life. But here you are with your brothers, and you are not eaten up, and there is not a wolf inside you. You have fed each other, and you kept the wolf away. That is all we can do for each other in the world, to keep the wolf away.

The only thing that had ever done me any good in my father's house was thinking: no one had cared what I wanted, or whether I was happy. I'd had to find my own way to anything I wanted. I'd never been grateful for that before now, when what I wanted was my life.

He obviously wanted to leave on a snappy comeback, but couldn't think of one. I suppose he wasn't ever called on to produce them in the ordinary course of things. After a moment of struggle, he just scowled and stalked out. I'm delighted to report my repaired door slammed shut on his heels beautifully.

I'd want to. If you want, I want.

Enough of that, you damned conspirators, you will have us hanged a great deal sooner than we will.

She didn't mean anything, Kasia said, brave brave brave, the way I hadn't been for her.

Oh dear, Laurence said; he felt rather awkward explaining that the main attraction was the abundance of harbor prostitutes and cheap liquor. Well, a city has a great many people in it, and thus various entertainments provided in close proximity, he tried. Do you mean such as more books? Temeraire said.

I was reasonably sure that my one tried-and-true method of being aggressively rude wasn't actually how normal people made their friends.

I could never afford to look past survival, especially not for anything as insanely expensive as happiness, and I don't believe in it anyway.

A power claimed and challenged and thrice carried out is true; the proving makes it so.

For a moment... I might have been the daughter she'd hoped for...she might have been my teacher and my guide...We might never have been enemies at all.

I missed home like the ache of hunger, something in me left empty. I'd missed it every day since we crossed out of the valley, going over the mountains. Roots—yes. There were roots in my heart, as deep as any corruption could go.

Rich meant that this room with three beds and a table and chairs and a window filled with glass was something to say sorry for.

He was a thing of books and alembics to me, library and laboratory.

But hope is good strong drink, especially when you can get someone else to buy it for you.

Everyone says you love a Dragon-born girl differently as she gets older; you can't help it, knowing you so easily might lose her.

I turned back and tried again, and once more I was sure that I was understanding, and all of it made perfect sense - better than perfect sense, even; it had the feeling of truth, of something that I'd always known and just hadn't ever put into words, or of explaining clearly and plainly something I'd never understood.

My mother had enough magic to give me three blessings before she died," I said, and he instinctively bent in to hear it. "The first was wit; the second beauty, and the third—that fools should recognize neither.

I'm sorry," I said, feeling stupid in the way I'm sorry always feels stupid when you mean it.

And I know nobody gets to live or not live because they deserve it, deserving doesn't count for a thing, but the point was, I now felt deep in my heart that I was in fact a better human being than Magnus or Todd, and hooray, all the prizes for me, but that wasn't helpful when what I actually needed was reasons why I shouldn't just wipe them out of existence.

I had a feeling the Summoning wasn't really meant to be cast alone: as if truth didn't mean anything without someone to share it with; you could shout truth into the air forever, and spend your life doing it, if someone didn't come and listen.