Remy’s Reviews > Rebel Queen > Status Update

“Shri Rama said something very interesting at my wedding, and Arjun would remind me of it constantly: we can help pave the roads of those around us, but we can’t choose their direction. Even trying is against the laws of samsara.”

“It’s finished, Sita. It’s over,” he said. “The walls have crumbled and you’re asking why instead of trying to rebuild. Your sister is in the next room. She’s what’s left, and that’s no small thing. She’s carrying a child.” -Arjun to Sita

“Inside, I choked down the feelings that threatened to overwhelm me. I would survive this. I’d survived worse things. After all, I was bamboo, and bamboo bends. It doesn’t break.” - Sita

“Hindus represent god using many faces to remind worshippers that there is divinity in all things: rivers, trees, elephants, and monkeys.” -the rani to major Erskine

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” -Expression from the book of poetry by Rumi, but not one of Rumi’s poems; quoted by Sita and favored by she and Arjun

“Be with those who help your being. / Don’t sit with indifferent people, / whose breath comes cold out of their mouths.”
-part of a poem by Rumi, read by Sita

[Lao Tzu said] “Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”

Shivaji laughed. “Charming is something a woman learns when she realizes how beautiful she is. Not enough people have told you how beautiful you are, Sita.”
…
“You are charming because you are educated and you are honest. This may be refreshing traits in the palace.

“I’d brought him half a dozen books, but anyone who has ever been sick can tell you that reading for pleasure and reading to pass the time are two very different things.”