Shymsal > Shymsal's Quotes

“They weren’t even taking me seriously enough to bother removing my guns, which I took as a personal insult.”
― Rachel Bach, Honor's Knight

“All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

"They're not the same at all!"

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"

MY POINT EXACTLY.”
― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

“Cotter leaned forward. "Where do you get off being such a bossy bitch?"

I looked him dead in the eyes. "I was born a bossy birch, so you can either roll with it or get rolled over.”
― Rachel Bach, Fortune's Pawn

“Never shame your comrades by letting their death get you killed”
― Rachel Bach, Fortune's Pawn

“Books are like people. They can be beautiful on the outside and it’s wonderful when they are, but what counts is the inside. And the inside of a book can be communicated in a dozen different ways, and cheaply enough that everyone can have access. And everyone should.”
― M.C.A. Hogarth, Rose Point

“Now, you might think it’s hard to look intimidating when you’re dressed in a ratty T-shirt, barefoot, and unarmed facing down a man who has a good ten inches on you, but that’s bullshit. Intimidation is all about attitude. All you have to do is let just how much you’d love to kick the other guy’s ass show on your face and even the biggest skullheads will start backing down.”
― Rachel Bach, Honor's Knight

“He was leaning back on his bench, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “Why would Charkov sleep with you?” “Gee, I don’t know,” I said, glowering. “Maybe because he’s got good taste?”
― Rachel Bach, Honor's Knight

“You couldn’t trust people who treated life cheaply, she’d said, because they were the ones who’d sell you out for nothing.”
― Rachel Bach, Honor's Knight

“But life wasn’t a gift that was given to you. Survival was a prize we all fought for together, not a guarantee bought at the cost of an innocent life.”
― Rachel Bach, Honor's Knight

“I didn’t often get to take the moral high ground. I was a mercenary, a killer for hire, and I made no apologies or excuses for how I lived my life. But while my hands would never be clean, I had honor.”
― Rachel Bach, Heaven's Queen

“Death is the easy part, the hard part is living and knowing you could be so much more then you’re willing to be.”
― robert m drake

“Somewhere along the way we all go a bit mad. So burn, let go and dive into the horror, because maybe it’s the chaos which helps us find where we belong.”
― robert m drake

“We swallowed the chaos because we knew we didn't want to be ordinary.”
― robert m drake

“The best kind of humans are the ones who stay.”
― robert m drake

“Society will always be too fragile to accept us for all that makes us beautiful.”
― robert m drake

“The truth is I didn’t need therapy; I just needed to feel loved and know that someone out there craved my attention.”
― robert m drake

“She does not want to remember but she is here and memory is gathering bones." -- Opening line.”
― Maaza Mengiste

“I am in the process of nailing Mr. Humphrey Griffin to the wall so thoroughly that future generations will mistake him for a tapestry,” said Crane.”
― K.J. Charles, The Magpie Lord

“The house is decaying, the furnishings are museum pieces, half the staff are consumed with loathing of me out of loyalty to my father, or because I remind them of my brother. In any case, they're people who lived in the same house as Hector when there are perfectly good ditches to die in, which tells you as much as you need to know.”
― K.J. Charles, The Magpie Lord

“A man once asked me ... how I managed in my books to write such natural conversation between men when they were by themselves. Was I, by any chance, a member of a large, mixed family with a lot of male friends? I replied that, on the contrary, I was an only child and had practically never seen or spoken to any men of my own age till I was about twenty-five. "Well," said the man, "I shouldn't have expected a woman (meaning me) to have been able to make it so convincing." I replied that I had coped with this difficult problem by making my men talk, as far as possible, like ordinary human beings. This aspect of the matter seemed to surprise the other speaker; he said no more, but took it away to chew it over. One of these days it may quite likely occur to him that women, as well as men, when left to themselves, talk very much like human beings also.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Are Women Human? Penetrating, Sensible and Witty Essays on the Role of Women in Society

“Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.”
― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

“People get hung up on happiness and joy, but fun will take you at least as far and it's generally cheaper to obtain.”
― T. Kingfisher, What Moves the Dead

“How did you get a demon in your chicken?'

'The usual way. Couldn't put it in the rooster. That's how you get basilisks.”
― T. Kingfisher, Nettle & Bone

“Look, if you don't make a fool of yourself over animals, at least in private, you aren't to be trusted.”
― T. Kingfisher, What Moves the Dead

“You expect heroes to survive terrible things. If you give them a medal, then you don't ever have to ask why the terrible thing happened in the first place. Or try to fix it.”
― T. Kingfisher, A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

“The love of a bone dog, she thought, bending her head down over the paw again. All that I am worth these days.

Then again, few humans were truly worth the love of a living dog. Some gifts you could never deserve.”
― T. Kingfisher, Nettle & Bone

“If we don’t pretend we’re laughing, we might have to admit just how broken we are.”
― T. Kingfisher, What Moves the Dead

“I fear that I am not the best possible person for this, but I am the best possible person available at this time, which is much the same thing.”
― T. Kingfisher, Paladin's Grace

“You didn’t fail,” I said. “They wouldn’t let you succeed. It’s different.”
― T. Kingfisher, A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

“Lots of people deserve to die,” said the dust-wife finally. “Not everybody deserves to be a killer.”
― T. Kingfisher, Nettle & Bone