Quotes from Robin Hobb

No matter what name they call us by, you will always be mine. And I am yours, Bee. And I will always do everything in my power to protect you. Do you understand that?... I will always need you. I will always want you to be part of my life. Do you understand that?

That is true. I could not prevent what was done to me, nor can I change what people made of me. But I know what I am and have decided to continue being what I am.

He spoke solemnly. "This is our last hunt, old wolf. And as we always have, we go to it together.

There are moments that change the course of one's lifetime, and often we don't realize how significant those initial may be until years pass.

Sound seemed muted, and night darker, scent and taste dulled. It was as if the world had been robbed of its brightness. He had left me behind to dwell alone in a dimmed and stale place.

Her stillness was such a contrast to all the jumbled communication inside me that I suddenly felt what a tiresome fellow I was, always filling the air with the rattle of words and anxieties.

Had they been dogs they would have sniffed me over and then drawn back. But humans have no such inbred courtesies.

A man's deep friendships were the most important thing he could possess. Things can be broken, or lost. All a man can keep for certain are the things in his mind and heart.

Lady Patience) Do you think you can pretend to be dead and vanish from my life for sixteen years and then walk in and then pour yourself some of my good Brandy? Insolence!

I bit my tongue and sat through his detailed and strained explanation. Not for the first time, I realized he considered me slightly slow. My silences he mistook for a lack of wit rather than a lack of any need to speak.

The Wit is more curse than gift, I sometimes think. Perhaps the hardest part of possessing it is witnessing so completely the casual cruelty of humans. Some speak of the savagery of beasts. I will ever prefer that to the thoughtless contempt some men have towards animals.

sometimes luck belongs to children and madmen.

In politics, appearance matters more than truth.

I looked at her, wanting her with all the lust of my months alone and untouched. But I knew also that for that deeper hunger for companionship and understanding, she offered me no more solace than any man might find in his own hand.

You're always somewhere else. You never do the music where you are." p. 462 Thick to Fitz

There is always power in holding a secret.

What is a secret? It is much more than knowledge shared with only a few, or perhaps only one another. It is power. It is a bond. It is a sign of deep trust, or the darkest threat possible.... Be very chary of revealing your hoarded secrets. Many lose all power once they have been divulged. Be even more careful of sharing your secrets lest you find yourself a puppet dancing on someone else's strings.

Everything she sang was true. I will leave it to you as to whether the truth can exist with details omitted, or if those lacks make a lie of it.

But you don't know what will happen.' 'No. That is our curse. To know that something will happen, and only after it is over, to look back and say, "Oh, that is what that meant. If only I'd known". It can break your heart.

You can wait a very long time for them to give you your freedom. Taking it might be faster.

There would always be dishonorable things done to preserve the honor of any power.

We didn't have to share a mind to share a heart.

Not every problem in the world belongs to you.

Night eyes had risen and stretched stiffly. Now he came to lie down beside me. He set his head on my knee. 'I don't understand. You are ill?' 'No. Just stupid.' 'Ah. Nothing new there. Well, you haven't died from that so far.