Deatheguard

“The most she knew about gardens was the Bakers’ own backyard, which contained one large mulberry tree and a rosebush, plus the window boxes where her mother grew runner beans. She knew there was earth under the plants and that the earth contained worms. She shuddered.”
― Diana Wynne Jones, House of Many Ways

“My mother brought me up to be respectable,” she said. “She never let me near the scullery, or the kitchen either.”
“I don’t believe this!” Peter said. “Why is it respectable not to know how to do things? Is it respectable to light a fire with a bar of soap?”
― Diana Wynne Jones, House of Many Ways

“All you had were pigs and enthusiasm. It’s not your fault.”
― T. Kingfisher, Nine Goblins

“If you do not find yourself a galaxy, it is not so bad to find yourself a star.”
― Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth