Allison Whitacre > Allison's Quotes

“And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams. It is alive as dreams are alive, more real than real ... for a moment at least ... that long magic moment before we wake.

Fantasy is silver and scarlet, indigo and azure, obsidian veined with gold and lapis lazuli. Reality is plywood and plastic, done up in mud brown and olive drab. Fantasy tastes of habaneros and honey, cinnamon and cloves, rare red meat and wines as sweet as summer. Reality is beans and tofu, and ashes at the end. Reality is the strip malls of Burbank, the smokestacks of Cleveland, a parking garage in Newark. Fantasy is the towers of Minas Tirith, the ancient stones of Gormenghast, the halls of Camelot. Fantasy flies on the wings of Icarus, reality on Southwest Airlines. Why do our dreams become so much smaller when they finally come true?

We read fantasy to find the colors again, I think. To taste strong spices and hear the songs the sirens sang. There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La.

They can keep their heaven. When I die, I'd sooner go to middle Earth.”
― George R.R. Martin

“The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

“Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

“I am not ruined. I am ruination.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“Alina nodded. "The real question is how you're going to outdo this gown for the royal wedding."
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Zoya said. "Nikolai hasn't asked."
"Can you blame him?" Genya said. "He hasn't had much luck with proposals."
Alina snorted. "Maybe he should have offered me a dynasty and not a piddly little emerald.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“I'd like to think of myself as delightfully complex.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Siege and Storm

“Three dark queens
Are born in a glen,
Sweet little triplets
Will never be friends

Three dark sisters
All fair to be seen,
Two to devour
And one to be Queen”
― Kendare Blake, Three Dark Crowns

“I want revenge." She whispers, and her fingers trail bloody streaks down Natalia's arms.
"And then I want my crown.”
― Kendare Blake, Three Dark Crowns

“People often claim to hunger for truth, but seldom like the taste when it's served up.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings

“If I look back I am lost.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

“Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

“We live in a world that is beyond our control, and life is in a constant flux of change. So we have a decision to make: keep trying to control a storm that is not going to go away or start learning how to live within the rain.”
― Glenn Pemberton, Hurting with God

“Never did the world make a queen of a girl who hides in houses and dreams without traveling.”
― Roman Payne, The Wanderess

“My name is Aelin Ashryver Galathynius. And I am the Queen of Terrasen.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows

“Only a king-consort is fool enough to love a queen, he says quietly.”
― Kendare Blake, Three Dark Crowns

“Power resides only where men believe it resides. [...] A shadow on the wall, yet shadows can kill. And ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings

“You never know," said Nikolai. "I've been busy. I might have some surprises in store for the Darkling yet."

"Please tell me you plan to dress up as a volcra and jump out of a cake."

"Well, now you've ruined the surprise.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“She now understood that the world wasn’t kind to young women, especially when they behaved in ways men didn’t like, and spoke truths that men weren’t ready to hear.”
― Margaret Rogerson, Sorcery of Thorns

“I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.”
― Thomas Sowell, Barbarians Inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays

“Fear cuts deeper than swords.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

“Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

“When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

“Oh, my sweet summer child," Old Nan said quietly, "what do you know of fear?
Fear is for the winter, my little lord, when the snows fall a hundred feet
deep and the ice wind comes howling out of the north. Fear is for the long
night, when the sun hides its face for years at a time, and little children
are born and live and die all in darkness while the direwolves grow gaunt and
hungry, and the white walkers move through the woods”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

“Every flight begins with a fall.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

“How long do you think it takes for someone to fall out of love?” He studies the skyline. “A day? A month? I’m asking because I don’t have any experience with it.”
What the fuck? I fold my arms to keep from giving in to the impulse to jab him with the sharp point of my elbow.
“I’m asking,” he continues, his throat working as he swallows, “because I think it will take you all of a heartbeat once you know.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Iron Flame

“She makes a good point,” Andarna agrees. “Can you carry a luminary?” “That question insults me.” “Can you carry a luminary while insulted?” she prods. Tairn growls.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Iron Flame