Tamora Pierce

“Not too fast," called Raoul. "Let's not scare anyone.""His majesty said with all deliberate speed!" chirped the courier. He flinched under Lerant's glare. "That's how we're doing it," Raoul told him. "Deliberately.”

“As I recall, this word's use means somewhere there is a tree that is now a - a two-legger.-Numair Salmalin”

“Now to find Tristan, if he survived the excitement. I hope he did. I have some things to say to him, and none of them are 'Goddess bless'.-Numair Salmalin”

“Men don't think and differently from women - they just make more noise about being able to.”

“Either I've turned stupid, or life's turned hard.”

“There's plenty more fish in the sea than Prince Jonathan," he told her softly. "And this particular fish loves you with all his crooked heart."-George to Alanna”

“She rides as a man, goes unveiled as a man, fights as a man. Let her prove herself worthy as a man, worthy of her weapons and of our friendship.”

“He was stupid. If I killed everyone who was stupid, I wouldn't have time to sleep.”

“We're on a hunt, Cooper. When you're on a hunt, you do whatever it takes.”

“Corus lay on the southern bank of the Oloron River, towers glinting in the sun. The homes of wealthy men lined the river to the north; tanners, smiths, wainwrights, carpenters, and the poor clustered on the bank to the south. The city was a richly colored tapestry: the Great Gate on Kings-bridge, the maze of the Lower City, the marketplace, the tall houses in the Merchants' and the Gentry's quarters, the gardens of the Temple district, the palace. This last was the city's crown and southern border. Beyond it, the royal forest stretched for leagues. It was not as lovely as Berat nor as colorful as Udayapur, but it was Alanna's place.”

“Not all nine-fingered girls have hatchets, she said in Tradertalk. Some of us just tried to have a conversation with a snapping turtle.(Sandry to Daja, referring to her conversation with Tris.)”

“Nawat grinned. “I was helping to steal soldiers who couldn't keep up.”“What do you do with them?” she asked, curious. “I haven't heard of bodies being found.”“Nor will you,” Nawat informed her, sitting on a corner of the worktable. “They were still alive when we gave them to my warriors at the edge of the jungle.” He picked up Aly's hand and laced his fingers with hers. “My warriors will be able to say they last saw the missing soldiers alive, when the troops went on a visit to the jungle.”Aly walked her free fingers over their entwined hands. “But why would Crown soldiers visit the jungle?”“They didn't think they would at first,” Nawat admitted. “So my warriors show them the beauties of the deep jungle. They take away all the things the soldiers have of the civilized world, such as clothes and weapons and armor, so the soldiers will appreciate the jungle with their entire bodies. But my warriors have seen jungle before, so they get bored and leave. The soldiers stay longer.”“Like the tax collectors,” Aly whispered, awed by the beauty of what he described. “Take away all they have and leave them to survive the jungle. If you're questioned under truthspell, you can say they were alive when you left them. And the only way they could survive naked out there . . .” Nawat was shaking his head. Aly nodded. “I take it you don't leave them near any trails.”“They are there to appreciate the jungle that has been untouched by humans,” Nawat told her, a teacher to a student who did not quite understand.Aly sighed. “I am limp with envy,” she told him. “Simply limp.”

“You are the Protector of the Small. You see real people in the humans and animals overlooked by your peers. There will always be work for you.”

“You look as scary as a buttered muffin.”

“I'm sick of this. Call me what you like, say I'm without honor, I don't care. I'm not getting on any more horses to whack you people with a stick.”

“Marriage is for noblewomen with nothing else to do.”

“The first thing every mage should learn is that magic makes fools of us. Now you may call yourself a mage. You have learned the most important lesson.”

“I'm not so fond of people myself, Evvy, but I took my vows for a reason. There are two classes of people in the world, the destroyers and the builders. I want to build, not destroy. You need to ask yourself who you're going to be.”

“Ishabal: "If you may correct your vision as you like, why do you wear spectacles?" Tris: "Because I like them. Because I have better things to do with my magic than fixing my vision when ordinary glass will do.”

“The bravest person I know is afraid of the dark. She sleeps with a night lamp always, but if her friends are threatened? She suddenly thinks she's a bear twelve feet tall and attacks whoever scared her friends.”

“Briar: "They never tell you some things. They tell you mages have wonderful power and they learn all kinds of secrets. Nobody ever mentions that some secrets you don't ever want to learn." Rosethorn: "All you can do is learn good to balance the bad. Learn and do all the good within your reach. Then, if you wake in a sweat, you have something to set against the dream.”

“You're more trouble than you're worth." "I'm a girl. That's my job.”

“Evvy: "Is she going to eat Jooba-hooba? She looks like she's going to bite him, at least." Briar: "No — if she bit him, he'd die.”

“Sometimes there's nothing you can do. [...] Sometimes they don't have enough to fight with.”

“Briar: "So I guess I was the last to know." Rosethorn: "Of course you are. You're a man, aren't you?”

“Lark: "You shouldn't yell at her." Frostpine: "Of course I should. Gods bless us all, Lark, but our Water dedicates would try the patience of a stone." — Dedicates Lark and Frostpine when the latter found out that the Water Temple had run out of warded boxes”

“Daja: "He and Rosethorn work together? They hate each other." Lark: "I didn't say they liked it.- Daja and Lark referring to Rosethorn and Crane's cooperation on finding the cures for new diseases”

“Daja doesn't exactly need to be tested on whether she's honorable or not." "Doesn't she? Don't all of you? This is your first taste of the things which may come from your being powerful mages. People will offer you gold, status, even love. I want to know how you will react. If want to know if your teachers will release greedy, thoughtless monsters into the world.”

“Sandry: "There has to be something we can do." Lark: "We're mages. We do what we can, but some problems are too big to fix." Sandry: "Then I wish I weren't a mage. What good is magic, if you can't use it to help people.”

“Tris: "What if I don't want to cut up aloe leaves?"Rosethorn: "Ask me if I care what you want.”

“He doesn't need my help coming up with pranks. He's got too many ideas of his own.- Daja referring to Briar in their first year at Discipline cottage”

“We can't just act without thinking anymore, Tris. They've been trying to teach as that all along. I guess if we're mages, we can't exactly be kids, can we?- Sandry after the pirate attack”

“Sandry: "I am silly, now and then. My mother said I was, anyway."Daja: "If you know, you can stop it."Sandry: "Then you've never been silly or you'd know it just creeps up without any warning.”

“I've said it before and I'll say it again, my lord. You are an evil man.”

“Once she was certain, she didn't waiver. I had to make her stop for water or a bite to eat. She obeyed, but she was restless. As clear as if she spoke to me, she was saying, "Very well, I know you want to keep my strength up, but scent fades, you know!"And I'd say, "I know, girl, but you're what I have and I'm going to take care of you.”

“Ersken gathered the dice, put them in the cup they had used for play, and tucked it inside one bound Rat's shirt."Let that be a lesson to you not to gamble," he told the Rat soberly. "The trickster asks you pay for any luck you may have, one way or another." "Bless the boy, he's a priest with it," one of the Goddess warriors said with a grin. "After this, laddie, what's say I take you home and rub some of that off yez?"Ersken actually winked at her! "Forgive me, gracious warrior, but my woman would turn me into something unnatural if I took you up on your kind offer," he replied as if he truly regretted it. "She's a mage and I'd best stay devoted.”

“Where everyone else sees a straight line, you see a maze, and when I'm done talking to you, the maze starts to make more sense--Reply by Dove to Aly's silent inquiry”

“I myself have noticed my growing resemblance to a daffodil.”

“I told Ersken, "Lately it's been like living on the knife's edge, never knowing which side I'll fall off on"Ersken clapped me on the shoulder as we stepped into the street. "Cheer up, Beka. Maybe you were going to fall off that razor's edge before, but not today," he said, as good humored as always. "Today we're doing to jump.”

“Nestor beckoned to me and I dismounted with care.I handed the reins to the boy with thanks. I do not wish to see that hard-charging bag of bones again, unless it is in my soup.”

“Her free hand was clenched in a fist. I held still, waiting for her to say something, to tell me she should have never left me here, where her friends might look to me for help.Finally she looked at me. Her eyes were hard, but she'd let no tears fall. "This is where we blame those who are responsible, Cooper, she told me, her voice very soft. "The colemongers, and the bought Dogs at Tradesmen's kennel. We'll leave an offering for him with the Black God when all this is done, and we'll occupy ourselves with tearing these colemongers apart. all right? We put grief aside for now.”

“Why do you look like cheese, Beka?" Nestor asked me quietly. "We've got help."I was too flummoxed to tell him I hadn't expected help to come so fast. Miracles aren't for the likes of me, didn't Nestor know that? Only the nobility gets them.”

“What trouble have you brought to my doorstep, Beka?" she asked."I don't see where blaming me for things that began months ago will be useful," I replied.”

“She's all over us like maggots on garbage, just because I interfered with one pickpocket yesterday.”

“Wenna followed us out. "You've done him some good, Clary, I have to say! He's got color in his cheeks, and he's stepping along as if he was sixty again," she told Goodwin as she walked us to the gate. "You'll come back?""Of course," Goodwin said. "But thank Cooper for his improved spirits. Once he'd insulted her a few times, he was in the pink.”

“Goodwin scowled at her cup. "With all due respect, my lord, I hate it when you make sense.”

“And now you're off to Port Caynn. Watch them sailor lads. They'll have your skirts up and a babe in your belly afore you know what you're about.""Everyone keep warning me about sailors," I complained. "Why can't someone tell the sailors to stay clear of me?"Granny snorted. "Oh, you're the fierce one now! Just take care no one else catches you unawares and knocks you on the nob!”

“Scummer, pox and wound rot!" roared Tunstall, slamming his fist down on the bed. "Gods cursed the pig-tarsed mammering craven currish beef-witted bum-licking gut-griping louts that did this to me! May every flea, leech and hookworm in all creation find and feast upon them!”

“Sadly for my wedding plans, I learned that Nestor is a bardash. I envy the men who enjoy his favors. He has always treated me with friendship which I now value more than my old romantic feelings.”

“Oh, Daja," moaned Jory, "you sound just like my parents." She ran from the schoolroom."Well, there's no reason to insult me, "muttered Daja, half offended.”