Pawn Quotes

“Man may feel like a feeble and powerless pawn, at some moment in his life. This apprehension can come out of the blue, in the middle of the day, at the center of a public place, like a cerebral attack. Check mated by 'daily routine', he may feel trapped in a smothering set of circumstances and only a deconstruction of all impeding barriers can bring about a vital mental deliverance. ( "Check and mate" )”
― Erik Pevernagie

“I'm a chess piece. A pawn,' she said. 'I can be sacrificed, but I cannot be captured. To be captured would be the end of the game.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker

“Be the music of your soul. Don't be a pawn in someone else's game.”
― Amit Ray, Nonviolence: The Transforming Power

“If I am a pawn in someone else's chess game, you better believe I am going to demand an explanation before being shoved at some rook. I'll play my part, damn it, but I want the courtesy of being asked for my consent!”
― Thomm Quackenbush, Danse Macabre

“Sometimes a Pawn is enough to change the whole game and those who ignore the importance of it, are liable to lose their Queen.”
― Sandeep Sharma, Let The Game Begin

“And so when the scar wraith approached him, he took a diagonal step backward putting himself behind Squirrel like a king retreating behind a pawn.”
― Neal Shusterman, Everfound

“If I had wanted to be a pawn in a game, I would have taken up chess...”
― Virginia Alison

“To a blind man, pawn shop and porn shop are one. To an unintelligent man, oversleeping and sleeping over are opposites.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is the President of Russia and the United States of America.”
― A.K. Kuykendall

“Good-bye, Eros, and all the soldiers on it, the ones who fought for me and the other children, the ones who manipulated us and lied to us for the good of humanity, the ones who conspired to defame me and keep me from returning to Earth, all of you, good and bad, kind and selfish, good-bye to you, I am no longer one of you, neither your pawn nor your savior.”
― Orson Scott Card, Ender in Exile

“People make moves like the Pawn.
(Let's go in the real world, look how they walk, from one up two max blocks they can take... so far it's sounds like the moves of pawn. People can be the king and the queen...)”
― Deyth Banger

“It would be so much easier if I could just be a student instead of always a pawn in a bigger game – and I had no illusions. I was no center of the storm. I was no rook or bishop. I was a pawn and nothing more.”
― Sarah K.L. Wilson, Sworn

“That's what lay behind the feud under way in the Republic: a battle between different noble family factions in a fight for power. Serving this side or the other was of no interest to Mathias. But the consequences of a Venice under the Pope's direct control weren't at all to his liking. His beloved books would be burned by ignorant, avid priests. Men like Malachia would win.

It was the same old struggle. The same fight Gheorg had chosen, the same fight that might take him to Wittenberg. But he wouldn't clear the way for Alexander VI. With what little strength he possessed, even though he was nothing more than a pawn of a chessboard, that extended farther then he could see, Mathias would help those in power smash what had all the makings of a major plot, one designed to overturn the government in power in La Serenissima. And these thoughts allowed the monk to find the first answer to the many question with which he still felt burdened.

He and the Borgias did NOT share the same Church.”
― Riccardo Bruni, The Lion and the Rose

“First, you can assume all the engineers are players. They obviously have technical knowledge they may throw on the table, otherwise why were they invited? The product-management person is also a player as she represents the sales folks in this meeting. Program managers in these meetings are pawns. They’ll make sure action items are recorded and that the meeting ends on time.”
― Michael Lopp, Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager

“There are two major types that you need to identify: players and pawns. The simple distinction between the two types is that players want something out of the meeting. This is their incentive to participate. They’ll be leaning forward, actively nodding, barely able to hold themselves back from spilling their agenda all over the table. Pawns are either silent or instruments of running the meeting. In either case, they’re adding very little to the meeting and can be removed from strategic consideration. The term pawns is not intended to be derogatory, of course. Pawns very well might be running your company, but in meetings, they don’t contribute . . . it’s just not their key skill.”
― Michael Lopp, Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager

“First, you can assume all the engineers are players. They obviously have technical knowledge they may throw on the table, otherwise why were they invited? The product-management person is also a player as she represents the sales folks in this meeting. Program managers in these meetings are pawns. They’ll make sure action items are recorded and that the meeting ends on time.If you’re sitting in a meeting where you’re unable to identify any players, get the hell out.”
― Michael Lopp, Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager

“You’re just a pawn on the chessboard, Leo Valdez. I was referring to the player who set this ridiculous quest in motion, bringing the Greeks and Romans together.”
― Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena

“I said quietly, 'Why did you make that bargain with me? Why demand a week from me every month?'

His violet eyes shuttered.

And I didn't dare admit what I expected, but it was not, 'Because I wanted to make a statement to Amarantha; because I wanted to piss off Tamlin, and I needed to keep you alive in a way that wouldn't be seen as merciful.'

'Oh.'

His mouth tightened. 'You know- you know there is nothing I wouldn't do for my people, for my family.'

And I'd been a pawn in that game.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“I can hate that I'm nothing more than a pawn to you and still understand why I am.'

'You're not just a pawn to me, Poppy.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire

“...if you treat me like a captive or a pawn or if you let anyone else attack me with their pet bird, I will refuse to behave. But it's not because I'm not loyal.”
― Stephanie Garber, A Curse for True Love

“It's an awful lot to take in, this elaborate plan in which I was a piece, just as I was meant to be a piece in the Hunger Games. Used without consent, without knowledge. At least in the Hunger Games, I knew I was being played with.

My supposed friends have been a lot more secretive.”
― Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire

“What they want is for me to truly take on the role they designed for me. The symbol of the revolution. The Mockingjay. It isn't enough, what I've done in the past, defying the Capitol in the Games, providing a rallying point. I must now become the actual leader, the face, the voice, the embodiment of the revolution. The person who the districts - most of which are now openly at war with the Capitol - can count on the blaze the path to victory. I own't have to do it alone. They have a whole team of people to make me over, dress me, write my speeches, orchestrate my appearances - as if that doesn't sound horribly familiar - and all I have to do is play my part.”
― Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay

“What's interesting is that Plutarch seems to have no need to share in the credit. All he wants is for the Airtime Assault to work. I remember that Plutarch is a Head Gamemaker, not a member of the crew. Not a piece in the Games. Therefore, his worth is not defined by a single element, but by the overall success of the production. If we win the war, that's when Plutarch will take his bow. And expect his reward.”
― Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay

“Coriolanus shook his head. "You can joke, but it won't change what you did for me. I hope I can repay you in some way."

"I hope so, too," she said.

In those few words he sensed the shift in their dynamic. As her mentor, he'd been the gracious giver of gifts, always met with gratitude. Now she'd upended things by giving him a gift beyond compare. On the surface, everything looked the same. Chained girl, boy offering food, Peacekeepers guarding that status quo. But deep down, things could never been the same between them. He would always be in her debt. She had the right to demand things.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

“I'm entirely the Capitol's plaything. They will use me for their entertainment and then kill me, and the truth will have no say in it. Plutarch acts friendly, but his indulgences - my family's goodbyes, his fancy sandwiches - are just a method to manage me, because happy playthings are easier to handle than raging ones. To get his footage, he'll indulge me right into the arena.”
― Suzanne Collins, Sunrise on the Reaping

“So, he's going to send her in, whoever she is, and get her killed in the Games?" I ask.

"That seems to be the current plan," admits Plutarch. "I don't approve of this."

"You're my hero. I hope I'm just like you when I grow up. Oh, wait a minute, that won't be happening.”
― Suzanne Collins, Sunrise on the Reaping

“One last thing. From the Capitol's perspective, the Games are the best propaganda we have. You tributes, you're our stars. You carry it out. But only if we control the narrative. Don't let us." Plutarch grasps my shoulders and gives me a little shake. "No more implicit submission for you, Haymitch Abernathy. Blow that water tank sky high. The entire country needs you to."

I can't help but think of Pa's directive to Sarshee Whitcomb. Seems like a lot to lay on my doorstep. Fix this mess for us, or else.”
― Suzanne Collins, Sunrise on the Reaping

“I can barely hear her whisper. "One of us has to win this thing."

My eyes travel up the long stems to the arrow-shaped leaves, the white petals, concealing us from Capitol cameras. "Why's that?" I whisper back.

"One of us has to be the worst victor in history. Tear up their scripts, tear down their celebrations, set fire to the Victor's Village. Refuse to play their game."

Reminds me of Pa. "Make sure they don't use our blood to paint their posters?"

"Exactly. We'll paint our own posters. And I know just where we can get the paint." In a gesture I remember from the schoolyard long ago, she extends her pinkie. "Swear it."

I encircle it with my own and our pinkies lock tight. They will never let me be a victor, not after my attempt to break the arena, but I can swear to try to keep her alive. "One of us paints the posters.”
― Suzanne Collins, Sunrise on the Reaping

“In the last moments, she releases her grip enough to lock her pinkie around mine. Looking, I think, for a final confirmation of the promise we made to each other. I nod so she knows I understand and that I will try my best to bring the Capitol down, although I have never felt so powerless in my life.

And then she's gone to wherever people go when they die.

She hasn't begged or pleaded; she retained her fury and defiance. Although for me, a person's desperation at the end is not a measure of their life, I know it mattered to her. Maysilee leaves the world the way she wanted, wounded but not bowed. I think about cleaning her up, but this is her final poster, and I won't tidy it up to make it easier for those monsters in the Capitol to sleep tonight.”
― Suzanne Collins, Sunrise on the Reaping

“I am living proof that the Capitol always wins. I tried to keep that sun from rising on another reaping day, I tried to change things, and now everybody's dead. You don't want me." And I don't want him. I don't want help from anybody in the Capitol ever again. I could never trust them.”
― Suzanne Collins, Sunrise on the Reaping