The Poppy War Quotes

“She saw it in a flash of utter clarity. She knew what she had to do. The only path, the only way forward. And what a familiar path it was. It was so obvious now. The world was a dream of the gods, and the gods dreamed in sequences, in symmetry, in patterns. History repeated itself, and she was only the latest iteration of the same scene in a tapestry that had been spun long before her birth.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Burning God

“You don’t know who you’re dealing with.” She leaned down close until her lips brushed his skin, until her breath scorched the side of his face. “I’m not Sinegardian elite. I’m that savage mud-skinned Speerly bitch that wiped a country off the map. And sometimes when I get a little too angry, I snap.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Burning God

“They can't say her name in his presence. He's never made this a rule. But for some reason, none of them dare.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Drowning Faith

“Theirs was a bond forged from necessity, hurt, and a shared, intimate understanding of hell.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Burning God

“Nothing lasts,'" said Nezha, at the same time that Kitay said, "'The world doesn't exist.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Dragon Republic

“You poor thing," she said.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

She just hugged him tighter. She didn't want this moment to end. She didn't want to have to go. "I just don't want the world to break you.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Dragon Republic

“They would take back the south with sheer numbers. The Mugenese and the Republic were strong, but the south was many. And if southerners were dirt like all the legends said, then they would crush their enemies with the overwhelming force of the earth until they could only dream of breathing. They would bury them with their bodies. They would drown them in their blood.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Burning God

“They’ve all gone completely mad.”
“Throes of victory,” Rin said. “Growing pains.”
“They’re skinning people alive,” Venka said.
“Because they traded little girls for food rations.”
“Oh. Fair enough.” Venka flicked an invisible speck of dust from her wrist. “I hope they castrated them, too.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Burning God

“It was a funny thing, how fear made him look so much younger, how it rounded his eyes and erased the cruel grimace of his sneer so that he looked, just for an instant, like the boy she'd first met at Sinegard.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Burning God

“He had the mathematics of fighting down to a science.”
― R. F. Kuang, The Dragon Republic

“None of that mattered anymore. They weren't stupid little girls anymore. They weren't students anymore. War had transformed them both into wholly unimaginable creatures, and their relationship had transformed with them.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Dragon Republic

“Words belonging to a legacy that now, she knew, she had no choice but to face. “Because we’ll be Cike. And the first rule of the Cike is that we cull.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Burning God

“Why are you helping me?" Sanshengmu asked. "You are a human. You live only to prey upon each other. You have no compassion. All you do is justify your own greed."

"Not all humans," said the hunter. "Not me.”
― R.F Kuang, The Poppy War”
― R.F. Kuang, The Poppy War

“Never trust someone who holds all the cards.”
― Rebecca F. Kuang, The Dragon Republic

“And if your opponent was not human, if your opponent was a cockroach, what did it matter how many of them you killed? What was the difference between crushing an ant and setting an anthill on fire? Why shouldn’t you pull wings off insects for your own enjoyment? The bug might feel pain, but what did that matter to you?”
― R.F Kaung

“Why are you helping me?" Sanshengmu asked. "You are a human. You live only to prey upon each other. You have no compassion. All you do is justify your own greed."

"Not all humans," said the hunter. "Not me.”
― R.F Kuang

“I thought you just wanted to be a good soldier''
But more than that, she wanted power.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Poppy War

“Her best advantage was her unpredictability.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Poppy War

“Then I will die on my feet," she said. "I will die with flames in my hand and fury in my heart.”
― R F Kuang