Trudi Canavan Quotes

“Happy endings are a luxury of fiction.”
― Trudi Canavan, Priestess of the White

“How am I going to make friends with these people if all I can think of is how easy it would be to rob them?”
― Trudi Canavan, The Magicians' Guild

“Tayend nodded. “I know it won’t. I admit I was worried about you, but you are still your old self, underneath.”
Dannyl straightened in protest. “Underneath what?”
The Elyne stood up, waving one hand in Dannyl’s direction. “All…that.”
“I’m reeling at your descriptive clarity,” Dannyl told him.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Traitor Queen

“Extending his senses, Lorkin tried again to hear his mother’s surface thoughts. What he picked up seemed too out of character, however. He must be imagining it. Though…it was also odd that he would imagine his mother thinking such a string of curse words.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Traitor Queen

“The right rumour in the right ears can kill the emperor, as they say.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Magician's Apprentice

“You two still establishing a pecking order?”
“Oh, it’s clear who’s at the top,” Jayan said. “The lesser hordes need to sort out their own hierarchy. Are you enjoying being the prize they’re fighting over?”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. I’m afraid female magicians have quite a reputation. My young, naïve subordinates are trying to work out if any of them stands a chance with you.”
“A chance?” She turned and began picking fruit again. “Am I to expect a marriage proposal, or something much shallower?”
“Definitely shallower,” he said.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Magician's Apprentice

“People and land, they’re the same, his father used to say. Neglect one and the other suffers eventually.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Magician's Apprentice

“She felt something inside her turn to stone and fall down into her gut, where it lay cold and hard and uncomfortable. Which was impossible, of course. Human organs did not turn to stone and certainly could not shift into the stomach.”
― Trudi Canavan

“Hasty learning can lead to mistakes, and magical mistakes tend to be more spectacular than healing mistakes. My father used to use that reasoning to explain why apprentices of magi drink far less than the students of healing.”
Veran grinned. “’Healers wake up with a sore head,” he used to say; ‘magicians wake up with a sore head, our toes burned black and the roof on the floor.”
― Trudi Canavan

“I love you, he told her.
Sweet joy rushed through her. But there was a distinct smugness about his words. He’d sensed her feelings in return, and was pleased with himself for doing so.
Turns out I love you too, she replied, communicating her wry amusement. Of all the annoying people in the world.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Magician's Apprentice

“There was no fast and painless way to perform an amputation, Tessia knew. Not if you did it properly.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Magician's Apprentice

“Hanara did not yet feel he’d reached long-life. It was a state, slaves said, where you felt satisfied you have lived long enough. Where you didn’t feel cheated if you died. You might not have had an easy life, or a happy one, but you’d had your measure. Or you had made a difference to the world, even a small one, because you had existed.”
― Trudi Canavan

“It always seems easier to do nothing, when the harm is don elsewhere,” Dakon said. “They know their young ones will either learn a lesson and limp home – or die and stop being a problem – or prove successful. The worst that could happen is a bit of a diplomatic hiccup in history.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Magician's Apprentice

“We have more in common than I thought, he mused wryly. He liked the idea that, if either of them ever fell from grace, the other might be there to offer support. It’s always easier to become friends with someone you have something in common with. I just hope it doesn’t take some socially disastrous fall before she’ll consider the possibility I might be a friend.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Magician's Apprentice

“The healers’ university looked exactly as Tessia had imagined. Her father had described it as an ‘old but strange building that has adopted and absorbed surrounding houses as opportunity and funds allowed’. It sounded confusing and intriguing, and it was.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Magician's Apprentice

“Our army is retreating. The Sachakans are following. They will be here soon. We must be ready. The servants are bringing horses.” He paused and frowned at one of the apprentices. “Stop wating time asking stupid questions and see if your horse is here!” he snapped. He turned and pointed. “You! Arelenin. I can see someone bringing your horse. Yes, I’d hardly miss that ugly beast if it were on the other side of the country. Go and get it.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Magician's Apprentice

“There’s no need for me to enter your mind, just sit at the edges and look for leakage.”
“Leakage?” Veran looked at his daughter. “You magicians have some interesting terms. Not particularly reassuring ones.”
― Trudi Canavan

“I’d love to see what the women wear, then.”
“You wouldn’t believe what your eyes were seeing – and don’t ask me to describe it. I’d have to learn a whole new vocabulary first.”
― Trudi Canavan

“It had surprised and impressed Tessia to learn that Everran and Avaria owned two wagons, one for their own everyday use and one kept for visits to the Royal Palace. Since the journey to the palace consisted of half the length of two streets, it seemed frivolous to own a vehicle especially for it.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Magician's Apprentice

“When Tessia and Jayan were served a large, fat rassook each, Jayan had smugly commented that Tessia certainly had a way with villagers and he would not be surprised if she could charm pickpockets into putting money into her wallet.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Magician's Apprentice

“Jayan found teaching both frustrating and rewarding. It depended on the apprentice. Some were attentive and talented. Some were not.”
― Trudi Canavan, The Magician's Apprentice