Quotes from Melina Marchetta

Today this courtyard was filled with great warriors. What is more? But it was not filled with great men who have the heart to rule a kingdom. Any man can kill, Finnikin. It is a stroke, an action with one's hand. But not every man knows how to lead.

Sometimes you don't let us talk about how we're feeling. If we feel scared, you say, 'Nothing to worry about, guys,' but that doesn't make it go away. It makes it grow.

It'll never go back to the way it was, Frankie. But you have to make sure it goes forward.

If I could be anything but what I am, I would be tomorrow. If I could be what my father wants me to be, then maybe I could stay for that, too. If I could be what you want me to be, I'd want to stay. But I am what I am, and all I want is freedom.

Bribes over two dollars are tax deductible

Why did I feel so grateful that people treated me well?

I think if I'm ever asked to recall what Year Twelve was all about, I'll remember it as one big cappuccino experience.

Words are intimacy she won't allow and he would not dare ask for.

And Bish thought it strange that seventeen-year-old girls who had sex with idiot boys could still cry like babies for their fathers.

If he can still piss her off, then it's a whole lot better than indifference.

And there it was. That slight lisp. That awful accent. That funny face that made him ache. Charlie wasn't just a cheat. He was a liar as well. Because Violette Zidane wasn't just the girl he was shagging, like he told the cop. She sort of owned his heart a little. Kind of a lot.

Because your grief at what you saw in those moments was too much for her to bear. Your pain made her weak. Her pain made you strong. Light and dark. Dark and light.

It becomes one of those defining moments in your life, when your mother does that

Jonah Griggs] is similar to a hawke and a wolf and Will Trombal – he mates for life.

And in that dark silence where it seems that everyone is someplace but me, it all comes back.

I'd go back to the moment it all fell apart and I'd start there.

Finnikin met her eyes, wanting desperately to make sense of her request. Why Pietrodore? But in a moment the realization hit, and he smiled in wonder. "It's not chance, Trevanion," he said, kicking the golden carpet of leaves at his feet. He ran back toward her, sliding part of the way until he could grab her by the waist and swing her around. "You are a goddess, Evanjalin of the Monts.

They're all gone. Everyone's dead

You're a bully and I know you don't care, but I just thought you should know that I think you're scum. He's probably some miserable kid with his own demons and he doesn't need yours.

But then I catch Grigg's eye and he looks at me in a way that tells me exactly what he's feeling and I love that look. Suddenly I want to yell out to everyone, "It's a game, these territory wars. They loved eachother.

Do you belong to the king?" he asked, his voice husky. She gently placed his hand against the beating pulse of her heart. Always, always it beat out of control, and he held his hand to it until he felt it perfectly match his. "Yes, Finnikin," she said. "I belong to the king. I will always belong to him." And there lay the bittersweet despair of what awaited them in the Valley.

Nothing worse than a weak man with ambition, who gains power because those before him died rather than because his ideals were grand.

My father believed in signs,' she says. 'Not that they change events or predict what's going to happen. It's more about what we do when we come across one.

I wasn't there that day to get on the three forty seven to Yass,' he says. "I was there to throw myself in front of it