Michelle Sagara West > Quotes

“I'm missing something, aren't I?"
"Brains", he snapped. "And survival instinct. The Hawklord's been waiting for you for three hours."
"Tell him I'm dead.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Shadow

“Is this some sort of test?"
"Everything that doesn't kill you is."
"Mind you," he added, "surviving doesn't always mean you passed.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Secret

“There wasn't a colloquial phrase, or curse, that went something like, "May your day be full of angry dragons" or, "May every dragon you meet today be pissed off." But, there should have been.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Ruin

“Hope is often bitter, but it drives us, and we cling.”
― Michelle Sagara

“The gods where like the weather; sometimes good, sometimes bad, and either way, always beyond her.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Shadow

“Success and failure are two edges of the same blade, two sides of the same coin. To fear one is to forever deny the possibility of the other.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Courtlight

“Truth, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Shadow

“If I need something you can't give, I need to walk away, because sooner or later, all I'll see is what you can't give. I won't be able to see what you can.”
― Michelle Sagara

“ Generally, I like to appear smart. I don't admit being stupid when there's any hope I'm not.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Secret

“Trying," he said at last, "is good. It always is. But failing? Everyone fails, one time or another. It's how you deal with failure that counts, in the end. It's the successes that you're known for-but it's the failures make you what you are.”
― Michelle West, The Hidden City

“I hate being the only mortal in a gathering full of Immortals who think killing each other cleverly is the height of good manners.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Peril

“You'll be with me, won't you?"
"indeed."
"Then what could go wrong?"
Lord Sanabalis visibly grimaced. "You clearly do not believe in angry gods.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Secret

“The look he gave her made her turn away for a moment. Sometimes you couldn’t look too closely at another person’s pain.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Silence

“History is not our guide, it is not our friend. It is a passing stranger, one which shadows legend, sprinkling it with the seeds of truth.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Shadow

“Is there anyone’s life story you don’t want to know?”

“Not really.” His expression was unexpectedly serious. “Because people make a story of their lives.
Gains, losses, tragedy and triumph—you can tell a lot about someone simply by what they put into each
category. You can learn a lot about what you put into each category by your reaction to them. They
teach you about yourself without ever intending to do it—and they teach you a lot about life.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Fury

“Lies were something you told other people to make things easier, somehow - hopefully, for them, but often more selfishly for yourself.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Silence

“I don't make the laws, I just enforce them."
"Then remind me to introduce a new set of laws, since the ones we have clearly assume a level of common sense that's lacking.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Ruin

“i'm never going to understand the Barrani."
"You needn't sound so morose, Lord Kaylin. They are unlikely to understand you either."
"Yes, but I'm unlikely to try to kill them for fun.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Peril

“Sanabalis never seemed to eat, and he deflected most of her questions about Dragon cuisine. Then again, he deflected most of her questions about Dragons, period. Which was annoying because he was one, and could in theory be authorative.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Silence

“Stop judging your life only by the failures," he whispered.
"What should I do?" she whispered. "I'm always going to fail."
"We all do," he said softly, his voice closer now. "We all fail. But none of us fail all the time.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Silence

“Not all of our heartless plans work as we intend; nor do all of our good intentions. We are where we are, and we can rarely predict where we will go, no matter how firm our beliefs.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Peril

“The truth was only another mask, even if it was the best fit, the closest to skin and all that lay beneath”
― Michelle West, The Broken Crown

“In youth,' he said, speaking as if from a great distance, 'we believe, and the death of belief forces us to disavow all belief. But that disavowal, time softens, and if we do not believe, we hope. Belief is easier to kill, somehow, and its death easier to bear.”
― Michelle West, The Broken Crown

“No, time has silverted the dark sheen of her hair, and thickened her body, and lined the corners of her eyes and her lips.

He saw in them the hints of the smile he loved, and knew, to be fair, that time had been no kinder to him. Or perhaps, it had been just as kind; for she did not look the part of a young girl, and she was not: she was stronger, wiser, and more just than the fear of youth allowed; she gave him the shelter that he needed, on the rare occasions that that need drove him. She trusted him, always; she looked up to him, still; he strove, in every way, to continue to live up to her expectation. She was the one person in his life he did not wish to disappoint. ”
― Michelle West, The Broken Crown

“You are an... animal? A talking animal?"
Without missing a beat, Teela said, "Of course not. She's much, much harder to train.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Peril

“Kill me now."
"Nonsense. Dead, you will provide no relief from the interminable boredom."
Everyone needed a purpose in life. Kaylin, however, wished fervently for a better one at this moment.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Peril

“Manners,[...] are severely underappreciated in my opinion".
"Oh?"
"Where practiced well, they remove the probability that someone in my position will be forced to go through the effort of killing someone in yours. Believe that on occasion that much death can become tedious.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Silence

“When you have all eternity, the word hurry is relative."
"And the guards, being mortal, have less of it, and their version of slugglish doesn't approach your version of fast?"
"Something very like that.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Secret

“Teela turned to Severn. "I'm having trouble remembering why I haven't
strangled her yet."
Severn shrugged. "I have that problem myself some days. At the moment,
though, the only betting pool in the office seems to be on the Sergeant."
"Ha-ha." Kaylin said with a distinct lack of cheer. And then, because she
was a fiefling, "What odds?" He cuffed the top of her head.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Courtlight

“She wanted to die. She wanted to die. Because then it would be over. All the loss, all the grief, all the pain, the emptiness - over. And she had said nothing then. Nothing. Nor had she crawled into her room and swallowed her mother’s pills, or crawled into her bath and opened up her own wrists. As if death were somehow personal. As if death were somehow an enemy that could be faced and stared down, she would not give it the satisfaction of seeing how badly it had hurt her. Again.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Silence