Fonda Lee > Quotes

“Expectations are a funny thing,” Wen said. “When you’re born with them, you resent them, fight against them. When you’ve never been given any, you feel the lack of them your whole life.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade City

“The Horn placed his hands on her shoulders, and pulled her close, and laid his cheek against hers. "Heaven help me, Shae," he whispered into her ear. "I'm going to kill them all.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade City

“Screw you, Hilo,” she snapped. “I can kill my ex-boyfriends myself.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade City

“Any old horse will run when it's whipped, but only fast enough to avoid the whipping," Hilo said. "Racehorses, though, they run because they look at the horse on their left, they look at the one on their right, and they think, No way am I second to these fuckers.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade City

“The clan is my blood, and the Pillar is its master.
On my honor, my life, and my jade.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade City

“You'd think it would be easier to face death as you get older, but it doesn't work that way. You get more attached to life, to people you love and things that are worth living for.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade Legacy

“Possibilities that lay in the past were illusions, closed doors, as meaningless as unfulfilled intentions.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade City

“The clan is my blood and the Pillar is its master,” she whispered. “I have a lot of regrets in life, but those oaths aren’t one of them.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade War

“Sometimes, Andy, the people you think you can count on, they let you down in a bad way, and that’s hard to take. But for the most part, you give a man something to live up to, you tell him he can be more than he is now, more than other people think he’ll ever be, and he’ll try his godsdamned best to make it true.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade City

“He insists he loves me too much to let me get involved in the war in any way … and I love him too much to obey.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade City

“The possibility of death was like the weather—you could make attempts to predict it, but you would likely be wrong, and no one would change their most important plans due to threat of rain.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade War

“She thought, Two strong-minded women in a man’s world, if they do not quickly become allies, are destined to be incurable rivals.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade City

“My grandfather taught me that if a friend asks for your forgiveness, you should always give it. [...] He also taught me that if you have to give it again, then they weren't a friend to begin with.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade War

“I have been chosen and trained to carry the gift of the gods for the good and protection of the people, and against all enemies of the clan, no matter their strength or numbers. I join myself to the fellowship of jade warriors, freely and with my whole being, and I will call them my brothers-in-arms. Should I ever be disloyal to my brother, may I die by the blade. Should I ever fail to come to the aid of my brother, may I die by the blade. Should I ever seek personal gain at the expense of my brother, may I die by the blade. Under the eyes of all the gods in Heaven, I pledge this. On my honor, my life, and my jade.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade City

“How do we do it?” Hilo sighed deeply. “You of all people already know the answer to that, Shae. We don’t handle this world. We make it handle us.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade Legacy

“When something has to be done, there's always a way to do it.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade Legacy

“True love, Hilo mused, was sensual and euphoric, but also painful and tyrannical, demanding obedience.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade City

“The way to defeat a chess master was not with greater genius, but by forcing her to play a different game.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade Legacy

“A man who wears the crown of a king cannot wear the jade of a warrior. Gold and jade, never together.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade City

“Funny, isn’t it? No matter where you are in the world, the one thing that keeps men from killing each other is a fear of what’ll happen after they’re dead.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade War

“We women claw for every inch we gain in this world...”
― Fonda Lee, Jade War

“Nothing good's coming, when the dogs start disappearing from the streets.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade City

“If you're not sure you're in love, then you're not.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade War

“Only children and gods are arrogant enough to judge what they can't understand. There's no point being afraid of their opinions.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade Legacy

“In my experience, as long as your friends have a high opinion of you, it doesn’t hurt when your enemies have a low opinion, the lower the better.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade Legacy

“The clan is my blood,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion, but perfectly steady. “And the Pillar is its master.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade Legacy

“Out of small resentments, spring great wars.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade War

“No matter where you go, others will try to define you. Unless you define yourself.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade War

“I was angry at you for a long time after you refused to wear jade. Of course you remember. Now, though… I’m thankful you’re not a Fist, Andy. I need—” Hilo’s voice faltered. “I need one of my brothers to live.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade Legacy

“Don't show off how much you hate a man until you're ready to be his enemy.”
― Fonda Lee, Jade Legacy