Michelle Sagara > Quotes

“It was true: hope could be unkind. You opened yourself up to the worst of wounds because you wanted to believe that something good could finally happen. But if you didn't? You missed this. This intense and prefect moment in which, while the world was almost literally going to hells all around you, hope and reality blended in a single, perfect note.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Ruin

“If life were fair, we would never have suffered what we suffered at all; having suffered it and survived, we're still reacting to things that don't exist anymore.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Ruin

“Kaylin is not known for her punctuality. She is known, in fact, for her lack--even by those outside of the Hawklord's command.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Shadow

“I don’t understand.”
The Consort’s smile was bitter. “No. No more do I.”
“I doubt that.”
“Do you imply that I lie, Lord Kaylin?”
“Clumsy of me. I’m not usually that subtle.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Sorrow

“Trying is fine. Failing is inevitable. Don’t let it devour you.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Shadow

“Some days, Kaylin fervently wished that she had already passed Adult 101 and could get on with being the person she wanted to be.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Flame

“There is never a guarantee, where hope is concerned; hope touches the edge of dream, but it is not a simple dream. It wants work, and sometimes it is bitterly painful―but no life is lived for long without it.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Flame

“There is not a man born among us who dreams—at first—of service, although in the end, many are bent that way.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Silence

“Life wears us down around the edges. The stress of life and its neces­sities cracks things. We learn to protect ourselves. We learn not to let so much of the world in, because some­times it’s all too much, and we don’t have the resilience we need to survive it. When we’re six, we make best friends easily. When we’re fifty, we don’t. That’s age and expe­rience for you.

But books are different. We can let books in. We can wrap them up in our hearts. We can approach them as if we’re still young and open. Even so, it’s not as simple. Because we’re not as simple.

(Source: State of the Writer, sort of, September 2015 - blog post)”
― Michelle Sagara

“Climbing was one of her strengths, but she didn’t do it with grace— which, come to think, was an apt description of the way she lived the rest of her life, as well.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Sorrow

“... Because not all weakness has to be weakness. Weakness, strength, power, failure - they're just words, and we can define what the words mean if we have the will or the courage.”
― Michelle Sagara in "Cast in Courtlight"

“Ignorance and stupidity are not the same. Remember that. Ignorance can always be alleviated.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Flight

“Yes, attempts at murder are often misunderstandings. Unless it involves armies, in which case it’s diplomacy.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Deception

“Maybe home is something we have to make, and remake, over and over. But it's hard to make things when you're afraid―or you're certain—that they'll just be broken.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Flame

“I don’t like people much—they irritate and annoy me. But I’m fascinated by them anyway.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Fury

“If she fails to wake, I will kill him. I will not kill him quickly.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Sorrow

“Never anger the idealistic. They feel right is on their side—and right excuses much.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Flame

“We’re not what we were. We’re not what we will be. Everyone changes. Everyone can change. Let it go.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Secret

“But she only knew one way of conquering fear, and that was to charge into it, blindly.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Fury

“She’d learned early that if she couldn’t be on time to save her life, she’d better cultivate the unseemly art of groveling.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Shadow

“Hope. Such a simple word, to hold so much. I like it,” she added. “I think it’s appropriate.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Flame

“Leontines were a tad on the possessive side, they didn’t share space well, and they responded to an order as if it were a suicide wish and they were magic wands.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Shadow

“It can't be any worse than whatever it is Annarion's doing."
"You are devoid of an active imagination, which is disappointing considering the experience you have now amassed.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Flame

“They feared you, and love can’t exist when there’s that much fear.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Fury

“Evanton creaked his way toward the sound of the bell at a speed that made snails look fast—if he decided to answer the door at all. If you made the mistake of ringing the bell while he was already on the way, he got angry. Kaylin had learned this early. On the other hand, if he’d actually failed to hear the door when she was expected, and she failed to ring the bell a second time, he also got angry. It was very much lose-lose, with hope wedged in to add anxiety.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Flame

“But home, for us, is each other, no matter where we happen to be.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Oblivion

“In practice, the Hawks are people. People are political. I don’t expect any group of people to be perfect, theoretical beings—for one, the pay isn’t nearly high enough. Some of the racial decisions made are purely pragmatic; the Barrani are preferentially sent into figurative war zones because we’re much more likely to survive them. There is no equality because we are not equal; we are different. I attempt to respect those differences.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Honor

“Everything happens at night.

The world changes, the shadows grow, there's secrecy and privacy in dark places. First kiss at night, by the monkey bars and the old swings that the children and their parents have vacated; second, longer kiss, by the bike stands, swirl of dust around feet in the dry summer air. Awkward words, like secrets just waiting to be broken, the struggle to find the right ones, the heady fear of exposure --- what if, what if --- the joy when the words are returned. Love, in the parkette, while the moon waxes and the clouds pass.

Promises at night. Not first promises --- those are so old they can't be remembered --- but new promises, sharp and biting; they almost hurt to say, but it's a good hurt. Dreams at night, before sleep, and dreams during sleep.

Everything, always, happens at night.”
― Michelle Sagara, Silence

“So Kaylin, navigating forest, footpaths, and a plague of blood-drinking, buzzing insects, began to make a list. It was, in her mind, titled Things Not to Do if You Want to Have Fun During Your Involuntary Leave of (Probably Unpaid) Absence.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Sorrow

“No," she told them all. Looking up at the creature, or across at it, she said softly, "Yes, it's what I want. But I also want wings. I want to be beautiful. I want to be strong. I want to be perfect.
"If every wish I ever had, if every fear, could become real, instantly, I would destroy the world.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Sorrow