Quotes from Jacqueline Carey

Beauty is at its most poignant when the cold hand of Death holds poised to wither it imminently.

But slight mistakes accumulate, and grow to gross errors if unchecked.

Stupid to speak of blame when the wills of the immortals are involved.

True friendship must be akin to romance, I think; only without all the anguish and anxiety.

If I'm to be damned for what I've done, I'll be damned in full and not by halves.

And having once chosen, never to seek to return to the crossroads of that decision-for even if one chooses wrongly, the choice cannot be unmade.

Grief heals ... unshed tears fester like a canker in the soul.

There is as much deception in noise as there is in silence

I know what you are. I've always known from the beginning, Kushiel's Chosen. It is folly, to make claim on one whom the gods have marked for their own. And unlike the others, I am no fool, to grasp at that which burns to the touch. What you have given... she raised one hand, palm upward, the garnet seal dangling at her wrist, ... I hold in an open hand.

It is a human failing, to attribute the best of motives to those we know the least, and the worst to those we love best.

That was the problem ... with trusting to the written word ... We were human, mortal and fallible. We forgot, we made errors, argued ambiguities, and twisted meanings to suit our own ends. And in doing so, mayhap we reshaped the gods themselves.

Her always is mine

One must gauge one's trust carefully.

Like a falling star, he descended on the Tarbh Cró, a Cassiline berserker, his sword biting and slashing like a silver snake.

Hear, hear.' Sister Martha hoisted her water glass. 'Let the rigid stick of self-righteousness be dislodged from her very uptight ass.' Father Ramon coughed. 'A-fucking-men,' Loup supplied helpfully.

Spontaneity is the province of youth

There would be love, and while it was mine, I could cling to it. I could rejoice -- in life, in the existence of love. In the existence of people like Phedre and Joscelin. Although the standards they set were impossibly high, still, I could rejoice that such courage and compassion existed in the world. I could hope and aspire.

I have seen the impossible. I have seen great and terrible wonders, and I tell you, the world is a vaster and stranger place than ever I had reckoned.

Again and again, I pushed my memories away. There were days when it was easy and days when it was hard. My love ... was a boulder in my heart. I sought to let go of it and let it sink. Let it sink below the surface, carrying my heart with it. Let it come to rest on the stream's bottom, a vast hidden bulwark, dividing the current. Let it stay there, hidden and unseen. Forgotten. Betimes it worked. Betimes it didn't. It was the best I could do.

not stories, but histories. For this too I learned, that a storyteller's tale may end, but history goes on always.

I seek words of such surpassing beauty that they might melt the hardest heart of stone.

Soon never comes soon enough to a young child.

To fail and persevere is a harder test than any you will meet on the practice-field.

By morning, Joscelin was resigned. You know, betimes I think you are a little mad, Imriel no Montreve, he said to me in the courtyard outside the stable, holding the Bastard's reins. You never said that to Phedre, I reminded him. Ah, well. He grinned despite himself. In her case, there is no question.