Casey Blair > Quotes

“You have the ability to set boundaries for what you will tolerate, and you should. That’s not something to be ashamed of. But don’t fool yourself into thinking it isn’t also a kind of work.”
― Casey Blair, A Coup of Tea

“It is amazing, how much physical and emotional noise we all generate.”
― Casey Blair

“It’s often the people with the least who give the most,”
― Casey Blair, A Coup of Tea

“Just because something is broken or appears to have no function doesn’t mean it has no value,”
― Casey Blair, A Coup of Tea

“If you let yourself focus too hard on just the craft, the art suffers.”
― Casey Blair, A Coup of Tea

“I won’t force myself where I’m not wanted.”
― Casey Blair, A Coup of Tea

“Unplanned purchases you can only questionably justify are a common experience in a bookstore, I assure you.”
― Casey Blair, A Coup of Tea

“Resolve is different.
Resolve is steady.
Resolve is continual.
Resolve is putting in time even when it feels unsatisfying in the moment, because it’s not about the moment.”
― Casey Blair, The Quiet Side

“That’s how the world is,” Ari says. “Most people can’t do anything, and the ones who could, won’t.”
― Casey Blair, Tea Set and Match

“Don’t discount it as a tactic. There’s a real art to threatening.”
― Casey Blair, Tea Set and Match

“I’m glad he can relax enough to make art with me here, that my presence doesn’t keep him from himself.”
― Casey Blair, Tea Set and Match

“Perhaps doing the work, and dedicating myself to continuing to do the work no matter what, is the path.”
― Casey Blair, Tea Set and Match

“I should definitely be responsible for another person’s happiness.” “You’re not,” Risteri says. “You’re what makes happiness seem possible for him. Actually being happy is up to him, not you.”
― Casey Blair, Tea Set and Match

“One fight at a time. Person by person, bit by bit, maybe I truly will be able to serve people, and in so doing save myself.”
― Casey Blair, Tea Princess Chronicles: The Complete Series

“You’re reflecting carefully, making choices, and taking action. Ultimately that’s all any of us can do.”
― Casey Blair, Tea Set and Match

“Helping in the cat sense,” he confirms. “Interfering with maximum adorableness.”
― Casey Blair, Tea Set and Match

“This is the story of a cat adventurer who solves mysteries, beginning with the tale of the vanishing fish snacks,” he announces. “May I read it to you? Talsu has heard this one before, of course, but it’s one of his favorites, so I’m sure he won’t mind the repetition.”
― Casey Blair, A Coup of Tea

“she has treated me backward, starting with the model of strength she knows and putting me into it, rather than seeing me and drawing my strength out.”
― Casey Blair, Tea Set and Match

“Then can you explain why people are like this?” Ari asks me. “Why do they have to operate on a set of rules no one says out loud?”
― Casey Blair, Tea Set and Match

“So a successful work day for me isn’t whether I’ve sold a piece; it’s whether I’ve done my work. Whether I showed up and put in time. Whether I did my best crafting a piece of pottery. Whether I presented it to customers as well as I could have. That’s what I can control, so those are the results I focus on.”
― Casey Blair, Royal Tea Service

“Oh, well, no pressure,” Lorwyn mutters. “I should definitely be responsible for another person’s happiness.” “You’re not,” Risteri says. “You’re what makes happiness seem possible for him. Actually being happy is up to him, not you. But your happiness is also up to you.”
― Casey Blair, Tea Set and Match

“But the craft is what I can control.” His expression turns wry. “Yes. And the craft matters. But a technically perfect piece of art—or a performance—won’t be as meaningful as a heartfelt one. The craft is the skeleton that carries your art, but without spirit it’s empty. People can always tell.”
― Casey Blair, A Coup of Tea

“I dont’t wan to leave you. I don’t know how I can stay. I don’t know how I can make your life better, but I am trying, and I will keep trying, as long as I am not making it worse for you, I want to stay with you.”
― Casey Blair, The Quiet Side

“The old woman sips the tea at last and says, “You do me too much honor.” “Grace, I fear I do not do you enough.”
― Casey Blair, A Coup of Tea

“place my hands over his fists and stare steadily at him until he meets my eyes. “If you hold her in such high esteem, then give her some credit,” I say. “Trust that she will also extend it to you. Unless you’ve demonstrated to her that you don’t deserve it which, to be clear, hypothetically you would be on your way toward doing, if you don’t reevaluate your course.”
― Casey Blair, Royal Tea Service

“I have been poor, and I have been friendless, but never with opportunities barred to me like they are for her, never threatened for how I was born the way she is. I can empathize with her fear, and I can understand it intellectually, but I cannot feel what it is to live with it every day.”
― Casey Blair, Tea Set and Match

“I’ve been away from the palace only a day, and already I have a monumental task in front of me. If it’s not the right path for me, I will change, because that is what I’ve dedicated myself to: not a particular well-trodden path, but to making my own.”
― Casey Blair, A Coup of Tea

“Is forward the only direction that matters?” she asks. “Is sustenance so inconsequential?”
― Casey Blair, Tea Set and Match

“But a quiet bookshop is ideal, to discover, and in fact simply as a place to exist peacefully without needing to act.”
― Casey Blair, Royal Tea Service

“You would have let a bully roll right over you and parroted whatever bigotry he demanded to save your own skin.”
― Casey Blair, Tea Princess Chronicles: The Complete Series