Quotes from Esther M. Friesner

I feel sorry for Sparta when you're queen. What are you going to do? Tell your husband and the rest of the court that they can wrap your beauty around them to keep warm and well all winter?

The gods are on our side," Castor added. "I heard that mountain's got plenty of places we can corner the beast for the kill. I hope I'm the one who brings it down. Wouldn't Father be proud to see me come home wrapped in a monstrous wild boar's hide!" "It'd go well with your manners," I said, but both of my brothers hustled past me and were already gone.

I have to finish what I started. I'd have had that beast on my spear by now, except for Prince Meleager. He saw me wound it and thought I was in danger. The gods protect me from men who mean well!

Who knows, my lady?" he said. "Maybe one day when you're a grown woman, your beauty will make Zeus himself fall in love with you and put your image up there as well, for us ordinary men to see and envy." "I can think of better reasons to end up among the stars," I said, smiling at such harmless flattery.

I felt as if Delphi herself were calling out to me: Come and know me if you can! It takes a special kind of person to learn my secrets. Are you strong or nimble enough to fight through my crowds? Are you smart enough to find your way through my streets? Are you wise enough to deal with any peril or adventure I might choose to throw across your path? I am Delphi, and I dare you to conquer me! And I am Helen of Sparta , I thought. I'm your match, just wait and see.

Falling down does not make you weak, it makes you sore. Not getting back up means you're weak.

Good energy, even if it's not focused. Bad technique, but that's understandable and it can be corrected. Too much enthusiasm. There's no shame in honorable combat, but there shouldn't be so much unnatural pleasure. The man with the greatest thirst for blood ends up drinking at Hades's table.

I didn't know you could waste a whole day over dressmaking. The next morning I learned that you can waste another day over the same stupid dresses.

I kept getting up earlier and earlier, hoping to escape before Ione could catch me. That was how I learned that you can't get up earlier than a farmer's wife.

I'm in touch with my feminine side." Lucky put one hand over his heart. "Every lunar cycle I become very moody.

VET, TAXIDERMY AND PET GROOMING. NO MATTER WHAT YOU GET YOUR DOG BACK.

Cats do not walk with people. We just sometimes happen to be going the same way.

I wasn't a girl anymore. Just before they shoved me through the curtained doorway, I looked up into the night sky and saw the silvery moon that Artemis ruled. Now the moon ruled me.

The old woman said something and thrust the bowl into my hands. I looked to Argus. "What am I supposed to do?" "You had a mind of your own last time we talked. What do you think you're supposed to do?" he countered. " You're helpful." My words were bitter with sarcasm, but nothing on earth was half as bitter as that bowl of herbal brew.

How dare you?" I said, all ice. "You coward, how dare you do this? If you wanted to reclaim your honor, you should have come to me alone, like a man." The young guard bit his lips, his thickly blemished face going red, but his helpers roared with laughter. "Hey, Telys, you said this pup was a stranger, but it sounds like he knows you well enough!" one of them exclaimed.

By my third try, Lady Aithra had lost her patience and brought me to stand before her son while he was in conference with a group of hard-faced Athenian nobles. I smiled unashamedly when she called me willful, wild, and ungrateful, which provoked her so much that she actually dared to declare, "My son, you must not marry this girl. I don't care how beautiful she is, she'll bring us nothing but grief and leave Athens in flames!

Don't drink heavily at your enemy's table, especially when your enemy claims to be your friend.

Suddenly the hall rang with Theseus's laughter. He held his sides, threw back his head, and brayed. "Ah, Lady Helen, the gods have been more than good to you. The three Graces gave you a face to outshine the sun, then filled your lovely mouth with these bursts of comical nonsense. We should be grateful to them. It's all that keeps us poor mortal men from mistaking you for a goddess.

What can you do for us, Hylas?" The beautiful boy smiled, dazzling me. "Show me this hiding place of yours first, then I'll do as much for you as I can. We're all brothers on this voyage." Just what I needed: another brother.

The place I have in mind is always deserted. No one likes to go there. They think the place is haunted by the old king's spirit." "Theseus's warriors fear ghosts?" I wanted to laugh. "Lord Kekrops's ghost is different. He was a dragon from the waist down." I raised my eyebrows. "Better that than from the waist up, I suppose.

We sailed for more days than I knew how to count, sometimes hugging the mainland coast, sometimes passing from one island to another over the waves. The summer weather blessed us with clear skies and tame waters. We did have a couple of times when we had to put in to shore quickly to wait out a thunderstorm. I think Zeus didn't want our quest to become too comfortable.

One blade couldn't win a battle, but as long as it was mine, it could be used to protect me and those I loved.

I'll never call you 'girl' again," Argus said to me. "A woman twice your age would envy your cunning!" "If I were still 'Glaucus,' you'd say I was smart or clever, not cunning," I chided him. "Pfff! What does one little word matter?" "So you won't mind if I call the Argo a ferryboat?" I replied sweetly.

The men didn't want to waste time beaching the ship. I heard a loud splash as Prince Jason himself slung the stone anchor overboard; then he took up his sword and shield before jumping into the hip-deep water. His bare legs churned the water to foam as he raced toward the battle. If lying came easily to him, so did courage; I had to give him that.