Quotes from Trudi Canavan

Great. She shook her head. Not only am I having conversations with myself, but now I'm refusing to talk to me. This has got to be the first sign of madness.

Better to know the quick pain of truth than the ongoing pain of a long-held false hope.

What was I thinking? Of all the assistants I could have wound up with, why did I have to choose the one with the scary mother and troublemaking in his bloodlines? I am doomed.

Mortals did not need gods to order them to kill eachother. They were quite capable of finding reasons to do so themselves.

If your appearance is all people see, they have no respect for your mind.

Cery: So, Hem, tell me why I shouldn't see how many holes I need to make before you start leaking money?

Nodding, Cery strode to the door and stepped through. Though the burly guards eyes him suspiciously, Cery smiled back. Never make enemies of someone's lackeys, his father had taught him. Better still, make them like you a lot.

It was impossible to imagine the aloof, dignified, powerful High Lord living as, of all things, a slave .

Unquestioning obedience is for slaves, the uneducated and the pathetic.

Tayend nodded. "I know it won't. I admit I was worried about you, but you are still your old self, underneath." Dannyl straightened in protest. "Underneath what?" The Elyne stood up, waving one hand in Dannyl's direction. "All…that." "I'm reeling at your descriptive clarity," Dannyl told him.

Extending his senses, Lorkin tried again to hear his mother's surface thoughts. What he picked up seemed too out of character, however. He must be imagining it. Though…it was also odd that he would imagine his mother thinking such a string of curse words.

Your supposed to drink wine, my friend, not breathe it.

Cold, truthful common sense was harder to like than warm, hopeful generosity.

Though I can't help feeling a sudden death cheats you of something. Death is an experience of life. You only get one death. I would like to be aware it was happening, even if that did mean enduring pain and fear.

He liked the idea that if either of them ever fell from grace, the other might be there to offer support.

Injustice alway captures the attention of the young," she said. "But as we get older we discover how difficult it is to change the world, and we learn to turn our eyes away from what we can't fix until we no longer see injustice at all.

The most powerful women in Sachaka and all you do is waste time gossiping and matchmaking

Achati chuckled. "You may be surprised. Some might come in the hopes of being snatched away to a secret place ruled by exotic women.

The last young lady I met stabbed me. You know I'm cursed when it comes to women.

Friendship? What friendship? I lust after him and he rightly ignores it!

The right rumour in the right ears can kill the emperor, as they say.

Believe me. There was nothing good in always being second place. Next to you, I may as well have been invisible - at least when it came to the ladies. If I'd known, we'd both end up as bachelors, I wouldn't have been so jealous of you.' 'Jealous?' Akkarin's smile faded. He turned away to stare at the horizon. 'No. Don't be jealous.

I wound up studying art and design, got a job at Lonely Planet Publications as a designer, cartographer and illustrator.