A.F.E. Smith > Quotes

“Can we at least give him some money?” I ask.
Fabithe’s lips twist. “I think you’ve misunderstood the fundamental principles of theft.”
― A.F.E. Smith, Dawn Rising

“He looked sad. ‘It’s hard to believe of her. She always seemed such a sweet girl.’

Sorrow rolled her eyes. ‘Your problem, Tomas, is that your natural paranoia is in constant tension with an almost pathological desire to believe the best of people. Sweet tells you nothing. Fuck it, I could be sweet if the occasion demanded.’

They looked at each other. Caraway’s lips twitched. Sorrow glared at him for a moment before conceding. ‘Maybe not. But you take my point.”
― A.F.E. Smith, Windsinger

“First he accuses me of trying to do the right thing, and now he tells me he trusts me. What am I, a fucking priestess?”
― A.F.E. Smith, Windsinger

“People are far better at noticing how they’re different than how they’re the same. I see it year after year when I’m training new recruits. And war only brings it out more strongly. It turns everyone into patriots.’ One corner of his mouth turned up. ‘Not that I object to people being proud of their country, obviously. But there’s a difference between that and hating everyone else’s.”
― A.F.E. Smith, Windsinger

“Love. It is a concept that belongs to the fleeting lives of others, hot and swift and all-consuming precisely because it must one day die. Lovers like to believe their feelings transcend mortality: a great undying passion, strong enough to outlast time itself. But the truth is, compared to the fires of eternity, human emotion is no more than the flicker of a candle. At its heart, love carries within it the bittersweet seed of loss; that is what makes it taste so good.”
― A.F.E. Smith, Dawn Rising

“If one man in a hundred is a traitor, and I allow that knowledge to close my heart to the other ninety -nine, who is the winner then?”
― A.F.E. Smith, Windsinger

“I come in peace,’ Sorrow drawled, offering him the knife hilt-first. ‘This was just in case I met anyone I didn’t like on the way.”
― A.F.E. Smith, Darkhaven

“Ree flinched as a dozen heads turned her way. She could see how they expected this to go. Either she and the other girl would become great friends and form their own exclusive little circle separate from the rest, or they’d be bitter rivals who constantly vied to beat each other in training. Those were the only two narratives open to her. That was what happened when you were part of a minority: to everyone else, your identity was intimately bound up with the group you belonged to”
― A.F.E. Smith, Goldenfire

“She has never seen him smile before, not properly. It reminds her of dawn. Of how the night can seem dark and cruel and endless, but when daylight comes it remakes the world.”
― A.F.E. Smith, Dawn Rising

“I lift my chin and meet his gaze without flinching. “Fine. You want to protect her for your own reasons, go ahead. But I swear, if you ever try to use that as an excuse to control her, or treat her as anything less than a person, I will kill you.”
One eyebrow lifts. “You think you could?”
“I’d have a damn good go at it.”
Unexpectedly, he smiles. “I bet you would.”
― A.F.E. Smith, Dawn Rising

“My arms are wrapped tightly around my own bent legs, like a woodlouse curled up in a ball. I force myself to unfold, because what else can I do? If I stay here waiting for the world to make sense, I’ll be waiting forever.”
― A.F.E. Smith, Dawn Rising